Kendra Shaw: Evolution
by Sage1988
Summary: AU of the Battle of the Comm Station in 'RAZOR' where Kendra Shaw is captured by the Cylons and taken away. What will become of her?
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Battlestar Galactica or any of the characters within_

_This story is different from my Kendra Shaw One-shot_

**Chapter 1 – Battle of the Comm Relay**

Kendra Shaw walked down the corridor which shook as _Pegasus_ was pounded by Cylon missiles with her side arm drawn. Her mind was racing. A technician passed her but she barely noticed him.

'How could Cain do that to Belzan? She just shot him because he disagreed with her.' She thought 'I agreed with him. If I spoke out, would she have shot me?' She didn't want to know the answer.

She continued down the corridor and found a marine lying on the floor; she checked for a pulse and found none.

Suddenly a sound from around the corner she heard footsteps and quick as a flash she raised her gun to see…

Gina out of breathe and looking scared

Kendra breathed a sigh of relief but Gina said quickly "Their coming this way, killing everyone" looking back down the corridor

Taking her hand to reassure Gina Kendra said "Go to CIC, you'll be safe there" and Gina nodded running down the corridor, followed by Kendra's eyes till she reached to lift; where Kendra turned her attention back to the marine lying in front of her. She picked up his rifle; she didn't really want to try and take down a Cylon Centurion with only her side arm and checked the clip.

She peered around the corner, to see a Cylon Centurion walking across the corridor swivelling from one side to the next looking for new targets to kill. She ducked back to avoid being seen, until she heard the heavy footsteps of the Centurion as it moved on.

Kendra came out from her hiding place, looking down the corridor to see if it was safe.

But then a Blond woman in a white coat walked into view from the same way the Centurion.

Shock gripped Kendra as she ducked back into her hiding place, that woman looked almost identical to Gina, "What the frak?" Kendra said and swung round into the open to kill the intruder.

But before she could pull the trigger, she felt her head being hit from behind and she fell into darkness, hitting the deck with a soft thud.

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Gina stood over the fallen human with her model number smiling as she walked over "Thanks I didn't really want to have to go through resurrection. Who's the girl?"

"Lieutenant Kendra Shaw, Admiral Cain's aid. She found the backdoor that our sister made in the navigation software" Gina replied as two Centurions appeared from behind her sister, waiting for orders

"Smart, what do want to do with her?" the blond model 6 asked

"John wanted human prisoners for his experiments, so why not?" Gina said and the blond 6 nodded

"Take her to the heavy Raider, bind her and prepare for take off" Blond 6 ordered and one of the Centurions picked the fallen human up and put her over its shoulder, carrying her as easily as if she was a feather pillow. The silver robot then walked back down the corridor towards the hanger bay, Gina and the other 6 followed.

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In CIC Cain ordered the security cameras on, so they could see what was going on the hanger deck, and to her horror saw a Cylon Centurion carrying Lieutenant Shaw off into the Heavy Raider followed by two Gina's.

"By Gods" Cain murmured as she realised that the Cylons looked like them now

As the Raider took off and flew out of the hanger, making an FTL jump once they were far enough away, Cain had only one thought

'I've been fooled'

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Hours later Kendra started coming around, her vision was blurry but she could see gentle white light. And that she was lying on a cold metal surface.

Blinking to clear her vision Kendra found she was in a white room with no windows, one bench and one grey metal door.

Then as she got to her feet, she realised that her uniform had been removed along with her dog tags and side arm. She was dressed in some kind of tight grey body suit with black boots.

She studied the room and knew that there was no room on _Pegasus_ like this, so she mustn't be on the Battlestar anymore.

The back of her head hurt so she felt it to find a lump had formed. So she sat on the hard bench and tried to think.

She must have been knocked out by someone when her back was turned, so then if she wasn't dead and she was no longer on _Pegasus_ then the Cylons must have captured her. God only knows what they were going to do to her, but she wouldn't talk if they interrogated her.

She went to the door and tested to see if she could open it, but found the metal was too smooth and there were no panels which she could open and use to short circuit the lock.

So she went back and sat on her bench and thought about what to do

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	2. Chapter 2

_I don't own Battlestar Galactica or any of its characters_

**Chapter 2 – Experiments **

A Cylon model 5 known as Adam and a three known as Alice, flanked by two tall robotic silver centurions approached the cell on _Base ship 145_. They were to escort the prisoner to the base below. Outside of the Colonial system it was run by 2 Model 1's and a Model 4.

They opened the cell door and saw the human female sitting on the bench with her forehead resting on her legs. She looked up to meet her captor's gaze

"What you going to do to me?" Kendra asked her voice steady

"Relax we're not going to do anything. It's what our scientists do that you need to worry" Alice said hoping to get some fun out of scaring the girl but was disappointed when didn't show an outward reaction, but on the inside Kendra was shaking.

The tales of experiments conducted on humans during the first Cylon War were almost legendary. The live dissections, horrible mutilations and mutations they caused.

Would they do something like that to her, using machinery to keep her alive would they rip her chest just to test how the pain centres responded? Kendra was secretly terrified and now as she was being led down the corridor trembling slightly. Alice smiled as the human began to feel fear.

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With two centurions within grasping distance Kendra led to a heavy raider were she was forced to board, her fear and anticipation were growing with every step. The raider took off and Kendra's hands were now bound.

5 minutes later they landed in some kind of complex, with a small landing pad and small buildings clustered around a slightly bigger one that was a little way off the pad. A hover barge appeared coming from the centre building, on it there were two old men that resembled twins and a dark skinned man accompanied by 4 centurions.

Once it reached them it landed gracefully the two identical older men disembarked and looked Kendra up and down

"Is this the human you brought me to continue the program?" one of them asked and Alice answered

"Yes taken by Gina from the _Battlestar Pegasus_"

"I'll need more, virtually all the subjects we brought from the colonies have expired" the second said

"If we can capture more of the Caprica Resistance and the local 4 doesn't get them all in the farms then we'll see what we can do. Now if you'll excuse us we need to get on _Pegasus's_ trail" Adam said and with that he, Alice and the two centurions they had brought with them returned to their raider and took off.

Leaving Kendra to her fate

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Kendra was escorted to the main building by the Cylons and then she asked the two older Cylon twins

"What are you going to do to me?" surprising herself by keeping her voice steady.

The older men turned around and smiled at the same time as each other, which was quite creepy.

"You my dear are going to receive a great gift. Were going to make you immortal" the one on the right said

"Immortal?" she asked and the Cylon on the left continued "We Cylons are unable to reproduce so we are looking at any way possible to expand our population. So we are going to attempt to use you as a template for a new Cylon model"

"You're going to turn me into one of you?" Kendra said her horror growing with each word

"Only if you are able to survive the operation procedures and then we will wipe your mind for re-education" the right said

Kendra felt sick, she was going to be twisted into a skin Cylon and probably used against her own people. She prayed to the gods that she would die before that happened.

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But the gods did not seem to hear her calling to them. Once she had gone through some very intensive physical tests to make sure she was in good enough shape to good through with the operations and unfortunately she was.

So a week after she arrived Kendra was sedated and placed on a table on her front so her back was exposed were Simon the number 4 sliced it open to expose her spine. He took a long syringe connected to a tank of different liquids. These liquids would bond to the bone and create a silicon/calcium version similar to the one that all organic Cylons had. It was a key component in the reincarnation. This was what often killed the human subjects, their bodies unable to cope with the change or their brains would be unable to relay signals.

But for some reason when the compound was injected into the spine of the young woman she did not die and the signals from her brain travelled through. Something about her body allowed her to survive.

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After the operation the first ever to survive, Kendra was subjected to electric shock treatment to make sure all the messages were being passed around her body. By stimulating her different nerves to see if they were properly transmitting to the brain. Especially the pain receptors, simulating them to access the level of the connections; moving constantly from nerve cluster to nerve cluster

But all Kendra could do was scream as each pain cluster fired one by one, keeping her in a constant state of pain.

Later that night as she recovered lying on her side as her back and front were too sore, unbeknown to her, her spine began to glow red

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	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any of its characters_

**Chapter 3 – Time to fly**

It had been almost a week since the operation where her spine had been turned into some kind of Cylon version and Kendra was recovering from the latest shock tests, her full body felt like it was burned from all the electricity that had been forced into it.

She had overheard John (one of the Number 1's) say that she was ready for the mind wipe; Sweet (The Number 4) said that the copies of her were maturing nicely and would be in a year ready to join the Cylon race.

If there had been a blanket on her bed Kendra would have hung herself rather than become a Cylon but right now all she wanted to do was sleep. She wondered if before the mind wipe she ever see another human again as her eyes that had become as heavy as _Pegasus_ drooped shut and she drifted off into dreams.

* * *

Her slumber was short lived however as a loud yelling awoke her from her dreamless sleep and out of her slightly opened eyes she saw another prisoner being brought in, a blond woman in a similar suit to her. Who ever the woman was however she was not going quietly, struggling violently, screaming obscenities and words that would have made even a toughened marine blush.

The Silver Centurion that was retraining her threw her into an empty cell that was opposite Kendra. The door snapped shut and the blond woman bashed her fists hard against transparent material.

"You're wasting your time that stuff won't break" Kendra said from her bunk without getting up

The Blond woman looked up noticing the dark haired woman in the other cell "Maybe but it makes me feel better" she answered

Kendra got up and looked at her, sitting on her bunk "You got a name?"

"Lieutenant Kara Thrace _Battlestar Galactica_" Kara answered back

"Galactica! I thought we were the only survivors" Kendra said jumping off her bunk and walking to the door of her own cell "Lieutenant Kendra Shaw _Battlestar Pegasus_"

"Pegasus. I guess we got something to talk about" Kara said shocked herself, she like everyone else in the fleet thought that _Galactica_ was the only surviving Battlestar.

"I guess but it doesn't mean much if we can't get out of here" Kendra said

"What you got?" Kara asked impatient already to exit her cell

"Nothing, I have nothing to work with, they stripped of everything when I got here. I figured a way to open the cell but I couldn't do it" Kendra said disappointed

"What do you need?" Kara asked with her hands on her hips

"A piece of solid non conductive material" Kendra said resigned

Kara didn't say anything, but put a finger in her mouth and pulled something out of the corner of her mouth, one of her dog tags.

"This do?" Kara asked smugly

Kendra was too shocked to speak for a moment but shook herself and said with a grin "Perfect, first you to find the small panel concealed by your bunk underneath"

Kara went to work and quickly found the panel and opened it. Inside there was an electrical conduit and several circuits.

"Now if you force the tag into the third hole from the bottom on the conduit then it will short-circuit the lock on the door without electrocuting yourself"

"Great to know" Kara said without breaking her concentration and forced the dog tag into right slot and the conduit sparked the lock clicking open.

Kara quickly got up and peered around the door looking for anyone but found no-one and ran to the opposite cell hitting the cell release, letting Kendra out.

Together the two women ran down the corridor

* * *

The other Number 1 named Archie was walking around the corridors trying to find the reason why Kendra Shaw had survived while others had died.

Before he knew what was happening he had been tackled to the ground by the two prisoners one of which slammed his head purposefully into the ground cracking his skull. Kara grabbed his die arm and the two women continued running towards the hanger bay.

When they arrived they saw a Centurion on guard, not having time to avoid him as the alarm began to bare loudly in the background Kara led lose with the side arm, nailing the metal soldier in the optics and central processor.

The two women ran to a heavy raider that was parked in bay not far from their position and scrambled up the loading ram.

They reached the cockpit and Kara grabbed the flight controls while Kendra dived for the Co-pilot/gunnery controls.

The engines roared into life and it flew out of the hanger and away into space chased by two normal raiders.

The heavy raider dodged the missiles and entered space where there was a flash…

And they were gone


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 4 – Continuing the Mission**

The two escapees had sat in silence as they navigated their stolen heavy raider away from their prison.

Kara sat at the helm station while Kendra sat at rear console, Kendra then broke the silence when she noticed something….

"You're heading to Caprica?" Kendra asked, turning her head to see Kara's seat, who didn't bother swivelling round.

"Before they got me, I was given a mission by the President of Colonies to go to Caprica and get the Arrow of Apollo from the museum" Kara explained as she programmed the jump

"We just got away from the Cylons and now you want to go back the Colonies. That's like strapping yourself to a nuke and pushing the on button" Kendra said sharply

Kara swung around so the two women now faced each other "Look, we found Kobol and a possible route to Earth. President Roslin-"

"Hey wait a minute. President Roslin…Earth. Don't tell me you're going after that old myth" Kendra exclaimed, she like most thought Earth was just a dusty old fairy tale

"That old myth as you call it is our only chance of getting someplace safe from the Cylons" Kara answered back.

"Alright then what do we want the Arrow of Apollo for?" Kendra asked, knowing that with two equally stubborn women in close quarters, in a very dangerous and stressful situation, things could get nasty pretty.

"We?" Kara asked a bit surprised that the other woman had backed off.

"You think I'm going to let you have all the fun do you?" Kendra said giving Kara a slight grin, to which Kara gave one of her own

* * *

The stolen Heavy Raider appeared over Caprica in a bright flash of light, and the two women aboard surveyed the devastation for themselves

'All the people' Kendra thought with despair, her only consolation was that her mother had not lived to see the end of the world, but her godmother was on Caprica or had been.

'Please let her be alive' Kendra wished desperately, knowing the odds against it were astronomical but she had to hope.

But there was another thing worrying Kendra, what was going to happen when she told Kara about what the Cylons had done to her. That she was one of those skin jobs now. She didn't know what it would be greeted with sympathy or anger and quite frankly she didn't know which was worse.

But they were soon landing, so Kendra put these thoughts aside. Right now they had to concentrate on getting the arrow and leaving as soon as possible, this was a Cylon planet now and if they were detected they were likely to be killed or sent back to the lab and that was something Kendra would kill herself to prevent.

Once they were down they unstrapped themselves and got to their feet, Kendra walked over to the supply box in the aft compartment. She had checked it out when they had made the first jump, some limited rations and two side arms and there was a small medical kit.

Tossing one of the loaded guns to Kara and taking one for herself, Kara lowered the ram and the two of them walked carefully out into the ruined city guns raised.

* * *

Both the women had thought they knew Caprica well, both of them had grown up there and Kendra had been there less than two months ago.

But this was not the Caprica they remembered…

The pleasant blue skies were gone, the glorious building rendered into ruins, rubble cluttering its once bustling streets, the strange winds blowing dust across the surface.

The sky however burned gold and its strange light gave everything an unpleasant hot temperature.

Quite quickly the two women were sweating as they moved out into the streets; they quickly came upon the Delphi Museum and ascended the steps, covering each other as they went.

They crept quietly through the dark and ruined corridors; Kara went through the small medical kit and found some radiation drugs. Kara injected herself with one of the ampoules and Kendra made a show of injecting herself.

She didn't need it, she knew that. The 1's and the 4 at the research outpost loved to brag about the Cylon's superiority to humans; how they didn't need to sleep, how they weren't affected by most radiation types, about how they were stronger and faster than humans, he just went on and on.

But it was actually quite useful for Kendra, she had learned all about the Cylons and that there were currently seven models and she knew what they looked like from the different models that had visited the lab to observe the experiments and the basis for the new model.

"Alright let's go get this arrow" Kara said and Kendra nodded

They walked slowly and carefully through the decaying corridors of the museum. They soon found the Arrow of Apollo exhibit and its toughened glass case.

Kara in a show of carefulness shot the casing which shattered into a thousand pieces and slowly made her way forward over the glass shards to get close to the exhibit and there in the mighty stone fist was the golden Arrow of Apollo.

While Kara marvelled at the arrow a Six crept up behind her silently, less than a foot away she said simply

"Pretty isn't it?"

Kara sharply turned around drawing her weapon, but the Six was too fast and knocked her to the ground

"Hello Lieutenant" the reddish blond haired Six said with a smug smile

Then she heard the click

The Six turned around to see Kendra behind her with a gun pointed at her head, and at this range there was no way she could miss

Then something clicked in Kendra's own head, the Six maybe physically identical to her sisters except for the reddish hair but in the eyes there was a difference

"Gina" Kendra spoke in a breathless voice but her eyes spoke of her hate and anger as she came upon the Cylon who had captured her on the Pegasus

"Well Kendra, this is a surprise" Gina said with a smirk, she knew she wasn't in any danger, if Kendra killed her she could reincarnate

"What they did to me…because of you" Kendra said as her voice betrayed her anger, all the experiments and pain rushing through her mind

"You should be honoured, you get immortality and more importantly you get to live. To truly become one of god's children, for your face to become that of the new Cylon model 13, or rather model 7" Gina said as if she was talking to a child

Kendra didn't say anything back

She just pulled the trigger

A shot rang out and Gina's body fell to the ground with a bullet in the head.

Kendra looked over to Kara

Who had raised her own gun at Kendra and look a mixture of shocked and betrayed

Then the two women noticed movement and in unison swung their aim over to the noise

That was what greeted Helo when he saw the two women, one of whom he called her friend

"Starbuck?" Helo called shocked, of all the faces to see here on Caprica she wasn't one of them

Starbuck then ran over to him and gave him a huge hug, she said with joy "I can't believe it" and Helo returned the hug with relish

They stood there for a moment, then Kara spotted the Sharon (8) look alike with her arm in a sling and went for gun but Helo grabbed her hand and pushed her aim away from the Eight. Tears came to her eyes as Kara felt the deep despair and betrayal, now knowing that perhaps her closest female friend was a Cylon.

"She's a Cylon" Kara exclaimed trying to get free of Helo's grip but he was far stronger than she was.

"She's pregnant" Helo said as he kept Kara from shooting the pregnant Cylon who had taken refuge behind a pillar and then Kara's arms went slack as the shock of many betrayals and the blow to the head she'd gotten from the Six became to much and Kara fell unconscious

Kendra who had raised her gun at the Eight the moment she saw looked at her with shock

But lowered her gun

"Let's move at out" Kendra suggested, the Eight studied her for a moment and nodded and then the women turned to Helo who was carrying Kara

He nodded

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_I really like to hear from readers_


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 5 – Truths revealed **

The group quickly moved out of the museum to get aboard the raider and escape Caprica before Gina downloaded, Helo swung Kara into his arms and carried her while Sharon was at his side and Kendra took point.

They got out of the main entrance only to watch in horror as a normal raider swung out of the clouds and fired a missile at the parked heavy raider which was instantly vaporised throwing them to ground

"Oh Frakking hell" Kendra swore as their ride was blown to smithereens

* * *

As the group of four people moved through the streets of Delphi City on Caprica, silence had settled,

Helo was carrying Kara who had yet to regain consciousness while Kendra who was carrying the Arrow and Apollo and the Model Eight who called herself Sharon walked at his side and none of the group would try to talk

Kendra decided to try and break the heavy atmosphere when she noticed something

"Where are all the bodies?" she asked and Sharon answered "They were rounded up and cremated in the incinerators"

Kendra said "Lovely" in a sarcastic tone

"We should probably try to get out of the city, pick up a new raider" Helo said but Kendra asked a question that had been plaguing her mind

"How can a Cylon be pregnant? I thought you couldn't reproduce" to which Eight looked like she had wanted to answer but stopped

Then as if to bring more colour to the group Kara started to come round

She blinked her eyes open and stared into Helo's face

"Sorry Helo your not my type" Kara said sleepily and Helo grinned and lowered her to her feet which she got onto unsteadily

She took a look at both Kendra and Sharon and decided this was not the time to start an argument noticed where they where. She then pushed a gate that was near open and started to walk down the path behind

"Kara what are you doing?" Helo asked

"Just making a pit stop, something I got to pick up" she said and the other three followed her

"Kara we have to keep moving" Helo said but Kara responded "I got a place here"

* * *

They soon came to a corridor of an apartment block where Kara went to a certain door and shot the lock and kicked the door open while saying "Never have your house keys when you need them"

The other three members of the group followed her into the apartment which was very messy and covered with strange pictures of a swirl of yellow, orange and blue that Kara had obviously made herself which Helo flicked through. The smell of rotting food was hanging in the air but Kara went straight to the battery powered music player and started playing some music

Kendra was surprised at the brass lieutenant's choice in music and remarked "I have...sorry had that one too" and Kara turned to face her with a smile till Kara remembered what had happened at the museum, the blond took off her jacket and dumped it while picking up a new one which was covered in paint stains that was on one of the seats, withdrawing her fire-arm and sitting down

Helo started looking for something edible and found a bag of noodles and the others sat down on the available chairs, Helo near Sharon.

Kara started to go through the boxes on the painting covered table till she found one that had cigars in it

"You know I never really liked this place" Kara said to her three guests, lighting the cigar she picked out of the box "Air conditioning doesn't work in the summer, heater doesn't work in the winter and the rent's a crime"

Kara sat back and said "After the attack, I never pined over any of my old crap" in deep thought; her eyes shut "Never missed it"

Kendra looked at her feet, the things she had left behind in her own apartment had never crossed her mind, some those where precious, things of her mother and of her life. A deep yearning filled her; she decided that if possible she see if she could get some things from her own home

She tuned back into Kara, who had started speaking again and she had missed some of it "You know, everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had, I am fighting 'cause I don't know how to do anything else" silence fell again as the impact of her words was felt

"I'm fighting to keep what I have" Kendra said, the attention of the other swinging to her "What part of me that's still human, fighting to keep it, while the Cylons took everything else away" she said sitting back, lost in her depression as the implications of what had been done to her finally started to sink in

"What happened?" Helo asked, Kendra turned to him and answered in a heavy voice

"The Cylons took me from Pegasus so they could use me in their experiments, to increase their own diversity; they cut me up and…" Kendra stopped and placed her head in her hands and let a tear leak from her eyes before continuing "cut me up and messed about with my insides, pumping me full of gods knows what, delightfully telling me that they were going to use me"

"Why?" Kara asked

"The Cylons can't reproduce like humans can" Sharon answered "I am the first to ever get pregnant, some Cylons believe that we need to use whatever we can to increase our numbers, so they experiment on humans to find out how to make them into templates for new models"

"Frak, you and your kind are truly are frakking nuts, do you know that" Kara said, not even managing to raise her voice

Sharon didn't answer…

* * *

An hour of rest later were the situation of Sharon was explained and the group decided to head out, Kara found the keys to her truck in the jacket she had put on and it bolstered their spirits. Kara climbed into the driver's seat while Helo went into the passenger seat, Kendra and Sharon climbed into the back.

Kara started the engine and broke through the closed gates out into the street

* * *

Hours later they stopped in the woods outside of the city when it became clear that they didn't know where they were, Kendra stayed with Sharon to keep an eye on her, while Kara and Helo got out to see if they could figure out where they were. They had stopped at an old store near Kendra's home where they had stocked up on some food and Kendra had grabbed her mother's jewellery box and her picture album and put them in a rucksack, it was a bit superficial but they were all she had of her mother and she intended to save what she could. She was also the one carrying the food.

Then Kara heard something in the in the trees a short way off, she and Helo acted like nothing was wrong and took some hidden weapons out of the truck while Sharon and Kendra got out of the back

Then the shooting started


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 6 – The Farms **

As the gun fire started all four members of the group ducked for cover and began to shoot back

"We're sitting ducks out here" Kara yelled

Helo crouched behind her and said in her ear "You go I'll cover"

"Why me?" Kara exclaimed

Helo said "Don't start"

"Fine" Kara said through gritted teeth

"Go" Helo said and he started to fire in the direction of where the gunshots were coming from while Kara moved very quickly over to an old power substation nearby

Sharon decided to try and use this opportunity to escape but Kendra grabbed her by the arm and said harshly

""I don't care if you are pregnant, if you try that again I will put a round through your knee caps, it won't kill but it'll hurt like hell" Sharon nodded not wanting to risk anything happening to her baby and despite her fear she needed have worried. Kendra would never put the baby at risk by shooting anywhere that might put it in danger.

Kara and Helo meanwhile had moved the gunfight into an old shack near the road, still unable to see the target they fired in the general direction and hoped to get lucky

Helo ran up some metal stairs outside the shack and was trying to reload when a man in black appeared behind him, Helo squarely in his sights

The man indicated not to try anything but then Kara snuck up on him from behind and said "Hi" smugly, the man then drew a second weapon and try to hold them both at bay and whistled

A second black this one dark skinned appeared from out of the bushes holding a rifle, then more new people kept appearing and it was clear that both Helo and Kara were surrounded and out gunned

Kendra watched with Sharon as their two companions were held at gun point, unable to see who they were and how many there were.

* * *

"We're not Cylons" Kara said trying to reassure the gun happy locals

"Right" said the mystery man who holstered one of his weapons and pointed the remaining one at Kara "You have a soul, you swim in the stream, we've heard it all before"

"Hey Colonial Fleet. Noticed the uniforms?" Helo said putting away his own weapon

"So what we've seen Cylons in uniform before; were human" the man argued back

"Yeah right. Everyone on Caprica is dead" Kara said

"Your not" the man said back

The air was tense and trigger fingers tensed on the small pieces of metal

Kara said back with an insane smile "I just got here. I want to hear some names"

The man hesitated before saying "I'm Alders"

Helo recognised the name straight away and connected it with the man in front of them "Samuel T. Anders?"

"That's right" Anders said

Helo turned his head to indicate Anders people "That's Jo-man, Rally, Ten Point, Sue-shaun, Crip-key, and Morris Fink"

Anders nodded and Helo said "Kara, these are the Caprica Buccaneers"

Kara scoffed and said "I don't think so" and a woman appeared behind Kara

"Give me a ball, little girl. I'll shove it up your ass"

"Please try" Kara said turning one of her two weapons on the new woman while keeping the other trained on Anders

"Ok since were all getting on so well can people please stop aiming guns at us?" Helo asked

Kara asked "How does a professional pyramid team survive a nuclear holocaust?" with a high degree of sarcasm

"We were in the mountains when the Cylons attacked, high altitude training" Anders said "We've been on the run ever since"

Kara turned her head looking at all the faces "Doing what?"

"Raiding military stores for ammo, anti-radiation meds and plugging toasters whenever they show up" Anders told her

"He's telling the truth Kara" Kendra called out and half of Anders group turned to face her as she emerged from the trees holding Sharon at gunpoint "When I was in the camp I overheard them talking of a 'Caprica Resistance'"

"What camp? Who are you?" Anders demanded

"Lieutenants Agathon, Thrace and Shaw, this here is Sharon, our Cylon prisoner" Kendra answered and said "So Sam, I guess you don't recognise me, we only lived in the same apartment block for 4 years"

"Kendra" he said relieved now seeing who she was "I thought you shipped out on the _Pegasus_?"

"I did but I was captured by the Cylons after the attack. Kara Thrace over there broke me and we both headed here to get info on the Cylons and collect stuff from the Delphi museum. So do we all relax or what?"

They all tensed but Anders said "Okay on three"

"One" Helo said

"Two" Kara said not relaxing her aim

"Three" Anders said turning his gun away from Thrace

But Kara had to get in the last word "You know you guys suck right? You can't shoot, you can't pass and you sure can't take a point" as she walked past Anders who commented "Everyone's a critic"

Kendra growled in frustration "Kara knock it off"

* * *

All four of them were loaded onto a truck and driven to the Resistance Camp was and Kendra sat close to Anders

"When I was at the camp I saw the faces of all seven Cylons models I can identify them if you want?" she said to Anders who wouldn't look her in the face

She sighed "Is there a problem Sam?"

"No, I just thought you might have wanted to say goodbye in person rather than in a letter" Anders said

"Sam you were in the mountains I was on my way to _Pegasus_, we broke it off a week before I shipped out" Kendra said

"You could have called" Sam said accusingly which Kendra got a little defensive

"Hey I wasn't the one who dropped our 2nd year anniversary dinner to go get blasted with his team-mates and end up in the arms of some groupie" Kendra said with anger creeping into her voice

"I told you it was a mistake to go with them and I was too blasted to see who was it was. I'm sorry what else would you like me to say?" Anders shot back turning to face her now, looking her straight in the eye

"Hey you two knock it off would you?" Helo said and the two of them fell in into silence as they arrived at the camp

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_

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	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 7 – Facing a demon **

The truck pulled into the compound and Kendra got off first followed swiftly by Sam, Kara, Helo and Sharon. Sue-Shaun was last to get off while keeping Sharon under her watchful eye and loaded gun

Sam took charge "Alright lets get these weapons unloaded let's go" and people from the compound started to unload the crates from the truck

Same turned to the four newcomers "We raided an armoury today, about 18 clicks north, brought home a lot of toys"

Kara looked around as did Kendra and Helo "What is this place?" Kara asked following Sam as he walked away

"Delphi Union High School; toasters don't patrol this area" Sam answered without looking "It's a good place to get some shut-eye, a bite to eat"

Helo asked "How many people you got here?" looking at all the people moving around

"53" Sam said Helo turning to face him "We had almost a hundred before the toasters ambushed us last week. All right let's go" he added before telling his people to speed up a bit

"More pyramid teams?" Kara asked

"No just us C-Bucs. The rest are survivalists, hikers mostly" Sam said facing the blond pilot

"How's your stock of anti-radiation meds?" Helo asked seeing medical kits being unloaded from the truck

"We raided a couple of hospitals down in Pilgrim Bay" Sam answered "I figure we got enough for about three months" before deciding to move on "Let's get you some bunk space. Come on" he said walking off

Helo and Kara didn't follow "Fifty Three, huh? Not exactly an army" Kara said "A hell of a lot better than the three of us if we're going to assault an airbase, steal a heavy raider and get the frak off this planet" they said starting to walk after Sam with Kendra and Sharon following

"Kara it's not just us we have to think about. How long do think this lot is going to survive here? Their stock of anti-radiation meds is going to run out sooner or later and they'll have a real problem finding more, that's not counting food, water, ammunition. We need to get them away from here too" Kendra said

"Our job is to get the arrow back to the fleet" Kara said stopping to face Kendra who stopped to do the same thing to Kara, Helo and Sharon held back not wanting to interfere

"So an ancient relic is more important than the lives of fifty three people when humanity is on the verge of extinction?" Kendra answered and the two women began a staring contest

"Hey move it" Sam shouted noticing that the new arrivals weren't following him

"What about Sharon?" Helo asked him as the group caught up

"We'll put her in the detention room for now, she won't be harmed as long as she doesn't cause trouble" Sam reassured him as he saw the worried look on the other man's face

* * *

After Kara had wiped the floor with Sam on the make-shift pyramid court the resistance had set up, Kendra went to his room to talk with him about plans to get his people off Caprica

He was sweating and changing when Kendra walked in on him, for a moment Kendra was stunned, Sam was a well built man, not garishly muscled but a body of compact muscle. He had always had this affect on her, even at the beginning

"Still not knocking I see" Sam remarked when he noticed she was there and Kendra blushed, it was a bad habit she had that she sometimes forgot to knock before she entered

Kendra recovered quickly "We have get off this planet as soon as possible, the Cylons may have infiltrated the Resistance, and if they have they'll expose you"

"I know, I want you to go around the camp see if you can pick any of them out" Sam said walking close to her

"Is that all you need?" Kendra asked without thinking, kicking herself immediately after saying it, falling back into old patterns

If Sam was surprised by this he didn't show it, he quickly grabbed the back of her head and roughly pulled her into kiss

She fell immediately into another old pattern when she started to kiss him back as hard as he was kissing her

He pushed her back against the wall and she wrapped her arms around him pulling him against her as she kissed him again…

* * *

A couple of hours later the two lay nestled against each other in the bunk

Kendra was first to break the silence "So what now?" she asked not knowing what to do

"We take it easy" Sam said without moving his head "See where it goes"

Kendra got up slowly and pulled a t-shirt over her head "Don't think it changes anything" she warned him roughly, the edge in her voice clear

He got up and pulled her against him again "Course not" before kissing her again, this time more gently and she let him

* * *

The two of them got dressed, Kendra replacing her grey jumpsuit with blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a maroon jacket. Kara had replaced her own jumpsuit with a pair of tracking bottoms in grey with matching jacket. Both women also had their side-arms in holsters at their waist. They met Sam, Sue-Shaun, Helo and Sharon who was invited only because she agreed to help them escape

They sat around the fire in what had once been the playground of the high school with the occasional resistance member coming in to get a crate of equipment

"Heavy raiders can only carry about seven at a time maximum, you need abut 8 to move all these people" Sharon said

"Is there nothing bigger?" Helo asked and Sharon thought for a moment

"Well there is the Heavy Centurion transport, it could hold all the people but will be under heavy guard at the airbase" Sharon answered "But the problem is it needs two Cylons to fly it, and its build so only Cylons can fly it, so without another Cylon to help it won't work"

"What about me?" Kendra asked drawing attention to herself "I'm part Cylon could I do it?" she asked Sharon

"Maybe" Sharon said but they were interrupted when by two men entering the area, Sam got up to greet them

"Brother this isn't a good time" he said to the man when Kendra caught sight of the two men and froze in fear

Her mind was flooded with memories of the camp where she was kept, the experiments, the torture flashed through her mind, the ghost of pain flooded through her limbs

Kara suddenly noticed the horror on Kendra's face and shook her shoulder hard "Kendra snap out of it" looking her in the eyes

Suddenly the fear was replaced with rage, anger, the need for revenge. The pain abruptly vanished and her mind unfroze. She leapt to her feet, drawing her gun and aiming it right at the two men

"Cylons!" she screamed and all the people in the area looked at the two men

The dark skinned Simon went for a concealed weapon, pointing straight at Kara but Kendra fired first, before he had the chance to pull the trigger. The shot went straight threw his stomach; he staggered as blood poured from his wound and the weapon slipped from his hands. While this happened Helo and Sam tackled the model 1 and pressed him to the ground in an arresting position

The 1's eyes met Kendra's and she readjusted her aim, now pointing straight at his head

But a voice in her ear stopped her from pulling the trigger

"No let us pump him for information" Kara said steadily, pressing gently on Kendra's arms who relaxed her muscles and let her aim drop as Helo and Sam dragged the restrained 1 away

* * *

"He says that if he can talk to you and Sam, then he tell us everything he knows" Jean Baroley, a red haired member of C-Bucs said after she had tried to interrogate the old Cylon

"He just wants to frak with our heads" Sam said taking the old priest's real identity hard

"I'll do it" Kendra spoke up, Sam turning to her

"Kendra" Sam said trying to talk her out of it

"No if he knows anything we need to know it. What about the other one?" Kendra said, asking Jean

"We stopped the bleeding but he has fallen into a coma. He's a machine why did we bother?" Jean asked

"When a Cylon dies their consciousness is transferred to a new body, by not letting him die we stop him from going back to his people and reporting what he knows" Kendra told them

"Ok you can talk to him, but not alone" Sam said and Kendra sighed before saying

"Well lead the way" Sam looked at her again with concern but noted the determined look on her face and knew there was no way of talking her out of this

The 1 was sitting on the bench in the make shift cell waiting for them when they arrived. He was just staring into space but his eyes immediately became alert when the entered, focusing on them intensely

"John Cavil" Kendra said "You wanted to see us, you claim to have information"

'John' looked her straight in the eye and she stared back trying to look strong but behind her dark brown eyes uncertainty and some fear festered

"Yes but first you two have to answer a question" John said

Sam said crossing his arms "And what is that?"

John looked uncertain for a moment but decided to ask his question "Can you forgive the Cylons?"

The question stunned Sam and Kendra, the question itself was just completely unexpected and threw them off their guard

"Forgive them?" Kendra sputtered regaining some control over speech "After all they have done? Killed billions of innocent people, forcing the rest to cling to survival on either irritated planets or spaceships while being relentlessly pursued across space or the land; how could we ever forgive that? Why you would you need us too?" she asked him

"Because absolution is what I seek, for both of you. You" he said turning to Kendra "The first of a brand new generation of Cylons and You" he continued turning to Sam "who showed me that humanity did not deserve its fate" he said before taking a breathe

"I seek forgiveness so that I can look in the mirror and each day and know that my parents do not despise me for what I and those like me did. If I have to help you fight against my own people to do it, then so be it" he finished

The two humans or though in Kendra's case that was debatable were rendered silent again

Sam recovered first and asked "Your parents?"

"The final five, the original organic Cylons who made the rest of us; their identities I will not reveal for their own protection" John told him

"I don't think humanity can ever forgive the Cylons for what they've done, but if you help us then maybe it will be a step towards us forgiving you" Kendra said carefully

Sam looked at her like she'd lost her mind but John was suddenly looking at his shoes lost in whatever thoughts were passing through his mind

"There is a Heavy Transport at the airbase" John said suddenly "And I will help you fly it but only if you take me with you back to the Colonial Fleet"

Kendra nodded

Sam asked "Why?"

"To reunite my parents in the fleet" John said

* * *

"He's a frakking toaster how can we trust him?" Jean yelled out as they broke the news to the rest of the resistance

"I didn't say we had to trust him, all I'm saying is we need his help to get off this gods forsaken planet. Any sign of treachery, we put a bullet through his head" Sam told the rest of them, many looked ready to go in there and kill John themselves but some including Kara and Helo nodded knowing this was their opportunity

"And it is not like we have a choice" Kendra said speaking up "I checked your stock of anti-radiation meds, turns out Simon contaminated them, after your current ones wear off, your finished"

The resistance members looked panicked at that and angry and fearful mutterings broke out between them

"Quiet!" Sam yelled bringing their focus back to him "Tomorrow morning just before dawn we hit the airbase, get the transport and get off this planet. Anyone who doesn't want to try, feel free to stay" looking at that moment at least every bit the leader that the resistance needed

The group fell into silence and looked undecided so Sam continued "Look this is the chance, perhaps the only one we will ever get to leave this planet. Our only chance to live, we stay here then we are all going to die"

That little speech seemed to convince those who doubted enough and they nodded in agreement

Sam nodded in return "Be ready by dawn, bring only what you can carry"

The resistance broke up to go and pack while Sam stayed to talk with Kendra, Helo and Kara. Sharon had been granted parole and John too for their assistance in the escape so while being watched by the Colonials the two Cylons stayed too

"You did good up there" Helo said to Sam while Sam let out a breathe no one knew he had been holding

"I was sweating the whole time, I don't like being the one in charge" Sam told him "We best get ready, were up early tomorrow"

They each walked off to their own room with Sharon under Helo's watch and John under Kara's

* * *

An hour or so before dawn the whole Resistance was up and eating an early breakfast and equipment check. Once they had got their stuff together they all piled into the vehicles they had to hand and started the journey towards the airbase, the twilight of the early morning was not yet giving way to the day and it was still dark. They had left the Simon model to die in his sleep, without the drip it would take a few hours which by then hopefully they'd be gone

About 1 and a ½ klicks from the airbase they exited their vehicles and proceeded on foot the rest of the way as to be as stealthy as possible, Sharon and John remained under guard at all times. Sam and Kara had point with Sue-Shaun and Helo behind them.

By the time they reached the perimeter of the airbase dawn was creeping over the mountains and everyone seemed to be getting tenser as the time where combat came closer; the perimeter of the airbase was electrified fences it having once been a Colonial Military Compound. But Kara remembered that there was a hole near the edge where nugget pilots had used to sneak out when they were confined to base. The hole was concealed by thick bushes by the same of an old storage warehouse with a broken camera

Kara snuck closer to the fence and check to see if the hole was still there and it was, very difficult for a grown person to fit through but possible if done single file, Kara went first and Sam next, then Helo and Sue-Shaun, and one by one Resistance slipped through the fence till they were all on the inside. Dawn was giving way to Daylight now and they were running out of time

Kendra peered around the corner of the warehouse and saw the transport they wanted sitting on the landing pad but the Centurions were taking up defensive positions around it and the other craft around it. Between them and the Transport there was at least 15 Centurions and a 5 minute run. There was no way that they could sneak through to the different vehicles or around to get the transport without being seen

"We got rounds for dealing with Centurions?" Kendra asked Sam who kneeled beside her and answered

"A few, how many Centurions?" he asked

"15 with a 5 minute run" she said whispering as a Centurion walked close to their position and then after a couple of tense seconds walked away

"Well we knew it wouldn't be easy" Helo said coming up to them

"So what's the plan?" Jean asked following Helo

"Err" Sam said looking around the corner himself "Me, Kendra, Kara and Helo take point, we run first taking Centurions out as we go, the rest of you follow behind and watch our prisoners" he decided "Sue-Shaun and Jean cover the rear"

"Got it" Jean said and went to tell the other the plan while Sam handed the point people explosive rounds

"Right all of you, keep it tight and what ever you do don't stop frakking running till you're on the transport and when you are make way for those behind you. Understood?" Same told his people who all nodded

"Ok let's do it" Kendra said and without further ado started on the difficult run

The others watched as Kendra started before Sam shook his head and they charged after her

* * *

They caught up just before they came into the sight of the Centurions and when they had a shot they fired

The first centurion had no chance as it was hit by six rounds and dropped straight away but the sounds of gunfire drew the attention of the other robots and consequently took aim at the advancing humans

Sam, Kendra, Kara and Helo all charged forward opening fire on the centurions as they ran forward towards the transport, the Centurions fired back at the fast moving humans, but the humans dodged the bullets.

They kept running and dodging fire till they reached the transport, quickly opening the cargo ram and pouring inside the stationary ship. They had not all been lucky, six people had been shot and killed getting to the transport, but 51 of them had made it. Under fire they quickly shut the cargo ram and Sharon and John sat in the control room, starting her up.

The engines hummed to life and the ship lifted off the ground, still under fire from Centurions on the ground and the transport sped up and moved quickly into orbit. On the way raiders started up after to intercept, the mechanical fighters harassed the ship all the way into orbit while the transport brought the FTL drive on line

Once in the atmosphere the ship jumped

* * *

When the ship emerged though something was very wrong

The transport remerged in orbit of another planet that was familiar to the Colonials

"That's Scorpia" Helo said seeing the remains of the once bustling Scorpion Fleet Shipyards

"I don't get it we set for Kobol" John said while Sharon connected to the computer to find the fault, everyone it the cockpit looking at him and Sharon accusingly

"Well it looks like we have a new problem" Sam said

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	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 8 – Conflict in Space**

In the remains of the Scorpia Shipyards, a lone ship hid surrounded by wreckage

On board the lone ship there was 51 people were huddled into the hold as some of them tried to find out what had gone wrong with the jump.

Jean Baroley was one of the people huddling together in the hold, they had found that there was little warmth on this transport as it was supposed to move robotic centurions who didn't feel the cold. Both the Cylons had been placed under guard while the ship was checked from bow to stern

She thought about how crazy the last few months had been, the destruction of the colonies, trying to fight a gorilla style war they couldn't possibly win and finally their failed attempt to escape back to the refugee fleet that had supposedly been set up

Now they sat on a captured Cylon transport freezing their asses off because somewhere there had been a great frak up

All through the fighting she had been terrified; of death, of trying to live in this dangerous new world she had found herself in, of everything. She clung to Sam because he was her rock, the leader, the one who had a plan.

And she still believed in him, despite all that had happened. He seemed to stand tall despite any set back

* * *

Kendra and Helo were looking at the FTL drive in the small engine room on the transport, it didn't take them long too find out what was wrong

The organic technology of the Cylons was amazing, a combination of organic and inorganic material, blended together in near perfect harmony, way beyond current human science and Kendra wondered how the hell the Cylons had managed to create something like this

It could heal itself like a living being and yet function in the cold vacuum of space like any other artificial spaceship

She quickly realized that the FTL motivator was almost burnt out, fortunately it had started to heal itself, in 10 hours they would be jump ready and out of here for good

Everyone was relieved that they could still leave the area but the fact that it would be a ten hour wait did not sit well with them

The tension that hung in the air intensified with every passing moment

* * *

Sharon or Eight as she was known by her model number was like John or 1 and Kendra barely slivering, she was so glad she was better engineered than humans to handle more heat or cold.

Nearly the humans around her were all filled with hatred for her, she knew that without being told but she was still surprised when an older male got up and walked towards them his face red and his face tense

"It's all your fault" he shouted at the two Cylons

Silence instantly came, cutting off any talking that had been happening as everyone turned towards the man and them

"What?" John asked him

"Everything! The reason were all stuck on this flying freezer, I..." He shouted but started losing steam as his focus slipped into his own mind "I was a father...and a grandfather before all this and now..." he said incoherently as images of those he'd lost ran through his mind, but even as he lost steam the others around him gained it; soon they were gathering into an angry mob, the cold forgotten as they were heated by their rage

Sharon suddenly felt fear so intense her body froze as the mob started to advance on her and John who looked on not caring since unlike her, he had no baby inside him!

Just before the mob reached her though the sound of a gunshot echoed in the room and everyone's attention turned to face the origin

Kara Thrace stood up on a slight gantry at the other end of the bay, the smoking gun in her hand, pointed lazily up in the air, her face gripped in an usually stern manner.

"Maybe when your done feeling sorry for yourselves, you can get a hold of the fact that we need them! Without them we can't fly this ship" Kara told them in a serious voice that was so different from her usual mocking tone

"We can't go anywhere anyway" one of the mob shouted amongst the mass of people

But before Kara could answer another voice shouted "We will in about 18 hours"

Sharon was so relieved to see the source of the new voice was Helo who walked over and stood in front of her protectively, his solid body hiding her from the mob's view

"The FTL drive is repairing itself, in about 18 hours we will be able to jump to the flee, till then we have to sit tight" Helo explained to the assembled group who all looked very tense at having to wait the better part of a day to escape

* * *

They all settled down after that, all of them settled down to sleep the time away and a few remained awake to keep an eye on things.

Kara was one of the latter, sitting in the hold, watching the Cylon prisoners

She couldn't believe even to herself that she had defended Cylons, any normal day of the week she'd be killing them, but then again this hadn't been a normal week.

She looked at the pregnant Cylon

'What kind of mother will she be for a natural hybrid?' Kara thought to herself, only to shake herself mentally, what was natural about this baby? Nothing, its mother was constructed in a frakking lab, the situation that led to conception engineered, what was natural about that?

She believed in the gods, so she hoped this was part of their plan, if it wasn't then she didn't want to think about what it could mean

* * *

Sam was sitting huddled next to Jean and Sue-Shaun, sharing body warmth under some blankets that they shared around.

He was still weary of the future but it felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, no longer did he have to be the leader that everyone looked for salvation. He would continue to fight but only because he could, so he should. If anyone could fight for the survival of the human race and if that one person choosing to fight saved a life than it was worth it

He only hoped that he would survive this fight, so maybe he could start his life again, maybe even with Kendra the gods willing

* * *

Kendra was sitting in the cockpit looking out at the stars

As a child they had fascinated her, all the suns that burned out there and worlds that spun around them, how wide the universe was. Now as an adult they still made her feel so small but now she also felt the black in between them, the dark endless depths which touch some primitive part of her which sent a chill down her spine.

But as she looked at the stars she started to see lines between them in her minds eye, she started to see constellations before her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she realised that she was mapping out the stars with such a degree of accuracy that she could navigate by them without the need for computers.

Such things were beyond the human brain

Without even thinking her hands reached out for the controls of the transport and the moment her finger tips touched the clear gel like panel her mind exploded with sensation. A buzzing filled her mind as massive amounts of information flooded through her brain, the progress of engine regeneration, hull integrity, internal life support, dradis and so on

She felt like she was drowning in an endless tide of information

Her curiosity quickly turned fear as her mind started to drift away with the information and with great effort she tore her hand away from the panel

The sensations abruptly stopped and Kendra was left panting for breathe, sweat dripping from her forehead

* * *

But in the hold while Kendra was coming to grips with a new way of interfacing with a ship, a man in was plotting.

Not that he would call himself a man

John or 1 as he was known was deciding how to acceive his goals


	9. Chapter 9

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 9 – Home Part 1**

Ten hours later at gun point the two Cylon captives were led back into the cockpit and sat in the chairs and set the co-ordinates for Kobol the distorted feeling of jumping came over them all as the ships jumped to rendezvous with the remaining elements of humanity

Sam, Kendra, Kara, Sharon, John and Helo looked up through the window to see a small fleet of civilian ships but no _Galactica_ which left Starbuck worried and the fleet was far smaller than it should have been.

"The fleet seems to be clustered around the _Astral Queen_" John said and Kara leaned towards Sharon

"Put me on speaker" she told Sharon who complied and Starbuck said

"Civilian vessels, civilian vessels this is Starbuck do you read?"

The transmission was met with static and she added "Do you read? Say again, this is Starbuck" and then "Is anybody getting this?"

The static continued and Starbuck frowned and repeatedly said "Hello" trying to get hold of whoever was on the Astral Queen

Finally after almost giving up a voice sounded on the wireless

"_This is Astral Queen we read you Starbuck you are cleared for docking at airlock three" _

Everyone even the Cylons let out a breath they didn't know they were holding and Sharon and John brought the transport alongside the _Astral Queen_ to dock

* * *

Kara, Kendra who held the arrow in a special case on her back and Sam all moved through the airlock while Sue-Shaun with Helo kept order on the ship, the corridor they emerged into was dimly lit with red lights that give it a really eerie feel but as they continued they came to a brightly lit room where they were greeted by armed civilians

Kara smiled as they walked in and two new people entered the room flanked by more armed civilians from the opposite side. Lee Adama came first and Kendra smirked when she realised the reason for the blond pilot's smile but it was the older women who walked behind Lee that caught Kendra's attention and she forgot for a moment to breathe but shook herself to concentrate again

Lee and Kara walked towards each other and their arms reached out around themselves in a tight hug which they slightly broke till Lee pressed his lips to Kara's whose head moved back in surprise. She smiled coyly before saying

"Good to see you too Captain" and Lee started to talk but Kendra said before he could say anything

"Oh just kiss you two and get it over with" shocking both pilots who had yet to separate from their embrace and Kara smirked when she got over that

"Gladly" before pressing her lips against the Captain's who was so surprised he didn't react at first but soon recovered and started to kiss back and it quickly became quite passionate

Kendra and Sam stepped around the couple to address the woman who stepped forward to address the President

"President Roslin" Sam came forward "My name is Sam Anders and this is-" he started to introduce Kendra but Roslin interrupted him

"Yes I know who she is and while I have many questions about why you're here, I'll start with this one" she told him before turning to Kendra "Are you alright?"

"Fine as can be expected Laura" Kendra said back before moving to wrap the President in a hug which the older women returned

"I take it you two know each other?" Tom Zarek asked and Laura smiled and released Kendra from her hug

"Her mother Marta and I went to school together and we served together when she was the Quorum representative for Caprica, when Kendra was born she named me her godmother" Laura explained to the political activist

"Well its great to see you but I think we'd better explain everything quickly" Kendra said softly to the other woman and they departed the room followed by Zarek and Sam, leaving Lee and Kara still lip locked

* * *

"The Caprica Resistance has two Cylon prisoners who claim to know where the Tomb of Athena is" Sam told the assembled leaders of the makeshift fleet "One of them is pregnant by Lieutenant Agathon and believes herself to be in love with him even if it is just emotional software and she will do anything to save her baby and the man she loves" who looked very uncomfortable at having to trust a Cylon but with little choice given how big Kobol was they accepted it, albeit reluctantly

"How do we know it isn't a Cylon trap?" Meier said sparking a murmur of agreement amongst the people present

"Because the Cylon will be leading the way and therefore in harm's way so if she is leading us into a trap, she and her baby will be the first to die and her friend out an airlock" Roslin said backing Sam Anders up and reassuring many of the people present and they started to return to their own ships leaving Roslin and Zarek alone

Leaned against the wall Zarek looked her straight in the eye

"This is a mistake" he told her "Trusting one of those things" and Roslin looked back at him unflinching

"No its a calculated gamble and one with the odds in our favor for a change and without their help we might never find the Tomb" Roslin said back at him "I'm in charge and its my decision, if you don't want to go down to the surface with us feel free to stay up here" she laid down the gauntlet to see if he'd pick it up

But Zarek backed off and sighed in defeat knowing she wouldn't change her mind

* * *

Kendra walked through the corridors of the Astral Queen, trying to find Kara and Lee who had vanished. She came upon them in one of the bunk rooms and saw the pair lying in a bunk covered only in a roughly sewed blanket and clearly nothing else, sweat glistening on their bodies and both sleeping peacefully

A sigh broke from Kendra's lips and she whistled sharply and both previously sleeping officers were shocked awake, looking around almost panicking to see the source and both grew quite annoyed when they saw who it was

"Kendra. What the hell! You scared the living daylights out us" Kara shouted suddenly realising the absence of her clothes and pulled the blanket over her nude body, Lee looked fit to burst but Kendra said calmly

"The President wants to see you" and Lee's demeanor changed immediately and he scrambled to his feet without realising his current state of dress nothing, and Kendra said

"Pants, Captain?" with a belittling air and Kara's outrage faded into humour and she wolf-whistled before saying

"Nice ass Captain but I don't think the president and others will appreciate it as much as me"

The comment from the blond pilot made Lee realise what an utter fool he'd just made of himself in front of two junior officers and quickly pulled his clothes back on while Kendra respectfully looked away, Kara just smiled in a mocking way that made Lee determined to get back at her and practically ran from the room

Both women the moment he left burst out laughing and continued for a good few minutes before sobering up and a silence descended upon the two women, Kara quickly pulled her jogging suit back on and sat on the bunk and Kendra sat opposite her, the two women both looked at their feet.

"How'd Roslin take it?" Kara asked without looking up

"She threatened to have Sharon throw out an airlock but she agreed to her guiding us to the tomb if we let her and her baby live" Kendra told her her gaze not leaving her shoes either

"I just frakked Lee Adama" she said putting her head in her hands and letting out a moan "I'll never be able to look the old man in the eye again"

"What's the problem? If you haven't noticed were not on a Battlestar at the moment, there's certainly chemistry between you two and even if we were on _Galactica_ I doubt frat regs are going to matter much when were on the verge of extinction" Kendra told her back, looking up at the blond pilot

"I FRAK EVERYTHING UP!" Kara shouted back at her now meeting Kendra's gaze "MY OWN MOTHER HATED ME! I GOT MY FIANCE, LEE'S BROTHER KILLED; I BETRAYED A MAN WHOSE TREATED ME LIKE A DAUGHTER!" breathing quickly now from her rant "A RELATIONSHIP WITH LEE WOULD JUST BE DOOMED FROM THE START, I CAN'T TALK ABOUT THE WAY I FEEL ABOUT ANYTHING"

"Have you tried?" Kendra asked not letting herself be shaken by her companion's raised voice and Kara was knocked out of her tirade at the unexpected question that she couldn't find an answer too. But Kendra could tell from her silence that she never really expected to call her out on that

"We all have our demons Kara, believe me I have my share" Kendra told her in such a serious tone that Kara could not help but take it to heart "No-one person is perfect and what I just saw the two of you have something. I still love Sam even after he cheated on me when he was drunk but I know he still loves me too and don't even get me started on the Cylon thing. I can see that you care about Adama, if you don't try then all you'll feel is regret. Maybe not today or even a year from now but one day you'll wake up and realise what you've missed"

Kara looked down at her feet again as Kendra's words sank in, looking up again she asked "When did you become a councillor?" and Kendra gave her a small smile

"My dad was a psychiatrist and he spent plenty of time analysing me, I could never do anything without him telling me about the inner psychological reasons for me doing it, but that was before he ran off with a girl half his age and had seven kids" she answered and Kara responded

"Ouch"

* * *

The 'Roslin' Expedition comprising Laura, Elosha, Zarek, Sharon, Helo, Kara, Kendra, Sam, Lee, Meier and a few of Zarek's security guards landed on Kobol. The feeling that was coming over all of them even Meier and Zarek was incredible, they now stood where human life had started where the story had began

They started trekking up the ridge and along the cliffs and through the woods, Sharon led in front and Helo just behind her but Lee Adama kept his gun in his hands and a sharp eye on the Cylon, one of those bitches had shot his father in the chest, nearly killed him. It had taken a lot for Roslin to convince him not to kill her, but the anger simmered below the surface and if she tried anything he would make sure she went back to her people painfully

"The path is meant to be lined with grave stones" Elosha told them and pushed some of the underbrush away to reveal a marker stone as she stepped forward to examine it Kendra noticed something

"Don't move!" she said quickly before Elosha took another step "Your about to step on a mine" and horrified expressions filled the expedition

_

* * *

_

Thank to those who read and please press the review button to give feedback


	10. Chapter 10

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 10 – Visions of things to come**

Everyone was frozen as Elosha looked to her feet and saw a mine right by her foot and her breathing quickened

"Can you disarm it?" Roslin asked the military officers who shook their heads

"Not without specialist equipment" Lee told her grimly, Kendra began to slowly guide Elosha's slow movements away from the mine, each step so carefully guided until they were a metre away and everyone breathed a sign of relief

"Thank you child" Elosha told Kendra and the group prepared to continue their journey up the hill but before they could move out one of Zarek's guards was suddenly cut down by machine gun fire that came from Cylon centurions on the nearby ridge. As everyone dived for cover Kendra threw herself and Elosha to the ground, her body covering the priest. As they tumbled to the floor Kendra lost her grip on the older woman and slid down a nearby slope, spinning around like clothes in a washing machine. Kendra felt like she was about to be sick till she collided with a large rock that stopped her movement. Stars appeared in her eyes as her mind was clouded by dizziness, her winded body felt ok and gingerly once enough of her senses had returned she felt herself all over, no broken bones but she'd have a bruise or two.

Once she was steady enough on her feet she stood up and looked at the slope she'd just come down. It was steep, quite long and would take her time to climb back up so she took a deep breath and walked to the foot of the slope to start her climb

But then she saw movement in the corner of her eye and training took over as she went for her sidearm and pointed it at the moving bush. She slipped into the role of a cold soldier and her finger tensed on the trigger. Then a figure emerged from the bush and it was the last person Kendra expected to see

It was a woman in her mid forties with long black hair that was showing signs of going gray, her skin was mocha colored and her eyes a deep brown, Kendra stopped breathing for a moment till her body started to choke and she remembered to breathe, her shock was beyond words. There was no way she could be here.

"Mother" she breathed to the form that appeared to be Marta Shaw who smiled at her daughter and with her hand beckoned Kendra to follow. Without realising it Kendra's feet started moving after the woman who appeared to be her mother through a parting in the under brush. They carried on for several minutes till they reached a clearing. In the centre of clearing was an arch that must have once been once a part of a building prior to the fall of Kobol. Marta led Kendra to the arch and Kendra could make out the worn intricate engravings on the arch, she reached out with her hand to touch it and when her hand touched the rough stone her world changed in a flash of light

* * *

She found herself in a grand entrance hall with banners decorating the pristine white walls, everything had a kind of glow to it that made it all surreal. Kendra suddenly looked at herself to see her clothes hand changed into a black form fitting dress that fell to her knees, she saw in a mirror on a nearby wall that her hair was falling in soft waves loose past her shoulders, make-up was delicately applied to her face and her feet clad in three inch heels. Suddenly a feeling of weightlessness came over her again and her body stopped responding to her commands but she was still aware of what was happening and her mind screamed

'What the frak is going on?'

Then two people appeared from around a corner, a man and a woman the man dressed in a stylist suit and the woman in a white dress. She didn't recognise the man but the woman she did, it was a Six, a Gina skin job but despite her urge to kill her, Kendra's body wouldn't obey. The man and the Six came up to her and all three turned to the main entrance. There appeared two little girls, one looked a year or so older but still both very young maybe two or three years old, both had dark hair and mocha skin but their faces had no common features, their faces were a different shape and their eyes a different colour. Suddenly Kendra's body started moving towards the youngest girl but she had no control over her body, like she was a puppet on a string. As she bent down to pick the girl up a feeling of love came over her as the child and her eyes connected, eyes that were identical.

Without her consent her body in a gesture that just felt right pressed her lips in a quick kiss to the child's forehead who snuggled closer into her body as she carefully wrapped her arms around her. She looked over to see the Six had picked up the other girl and all three adults now carrying the children walked through a door into a stage of some kind like in an opera house and there in a box along the second level there was five white glowing beings.

Then there was another flash and Kendra found herself back at the ruined arch her body now back under her control and she was very much alone.

* * *

An hour or so later she found her way back to the path where she had been separated from the others her mind spinning with what had just happened, the experience was so disorientating that she could make no sense of it. She had never been particularly religious but she felt she had just been touched by the hand of the god.

Gods she caught herself, she was human so she believed in the Lords of Kobol not the one god of the Cylons but despite her reasoning she still felt that it had been just one presence behind what had just happened

Scaring herself now with the idea that she was losing her mind she shook herself and forced her mind to concentrate on making contact with the expedition.

She eventually found tracks made by none metal feet and started following them, she saw the signs of a fight and spent rounds and a few wrecked centurions, there was only one human body though, the body of the guard Zarek had brought with him. The sky rumbled, she looked up through the gaps in the trees to see storm clouds gathering, threatening rain. Quickly she followed the tracks as fast as she could before it rained and washed away all traces of the expedition. Just as the rain started to fall she finally caught up with the group

"Where the hell have been?" Kara asked her angrily, she had been concerned about Kendra's disappearance but of course would never say it

"Fell down a slope during the fight, took my an hour to find my way back to the path and catch up" Kendra said, Helo handed her an identity rain coat to the ones the group was already wearing, she said "Thanks" and slipped it on quickly to keep her from getting any wetter

Without further words the group now reunited moved on, the rain pouring down with Sharon and Elosha leading the way. The group climbed over muddy hills and slippery woodland all the way. Laura started to run into trouble so Lee helped her out of the ravine so they didn't get caught in a flash flood. Climbing the large hill they were moving up became harder and harder to navigate even Sharon and Kendra were struggling so the group tried to find a place to make camp.

Zarek tried to get the Astral Queen to pick them all up till the weather clears but he was quickly overruled by Lee Adama. Kendra looked at Zarek and Meier as the two men talked quietly and her eyes narrowed but she kept her suspicions to herself.

They finally reached the ridge and set up camp, Kendra sat in the tent next to Lee and Kara's and watched the other people in the camp, particularly Helo and Sharon

"Gives me the creeps seeing him acting like that with her" Lee told Kara anger burning in his eyes as he looked on the twin of the assassin that had nearly killed his father

Kara looked at piece of equipment she was fiddling with and said without looking "He loves her. And, yeah he knows she's a machine. He doesn't care he loves her anyway" finally looking up at the loving couple under the tent a short distance away from them

Lee's anger still didn't abate "Frak. How can one of us get that roped in by one of them?" he asked and Kendra answered his question

"I did"

"What?" Lee asked, both he and Kara turning to face her, surprise evidence on both their faces

"Remember that blond skin job we met in the museum?" she asked Kara who nodded "That was Gina, she infiltrated the _Pegasus_ while it was docked at Scorpio as a civilian technician, wormed her way into Cain's affections, made friends with me my first day and showed me the way to CIC when I got lost. After we escaped the attack on the colonies she helped me update and secure all _Pegasus's_ gunnery controls and because she was my friend I gave her my access codes, she used them to override the security lockouts and sabotage the ship's defenses" the two colonial officers paid close attention, now wrapped in her story "Then when we were boarded she crept up behind me and knocked me, sent me to that prison camp. You know the rest" she finished taking a slip from her canteen to ease her throat

The two other officers stared at her for a moment before she added "It's what they do, exploit human vulnerabilities to gain a foothold but with Sharon its different" looking intensely at the human and cylon couple "It was Sharon's job to love him and she did it so well that it became real, he does love her and she loves him for the qualities that make him Helo Agathon. While Cylons may seem so different from us they still have the same vulnerabilities as we do so why is so unbelievable that humans and cylons could form attachments?" she finished finally making her point Kara looked at her then Helo and then Sharon, judging it for herself and started to see what Kendra meant. Lee did see but the distrust he held for Cylons held

"We should still keep an eye on her and him to for that matter" he insisted but Kara jumped immediately to Helo's defense

"Helo's a friend of mine, all right. He's one of the good guys." and before Lee could say anything back Kendra said to him

"Look Captain Adama, stop focusing on Helo's love life and instead look at your own, the same goes for you Kara" and that brought the thoughts of the two officers back to what had happened on the Astral Queen and Lee put his arm around Kara and pulled her close. The blond pilot looked surprised at the motion but went with and leaned into him.

Sam joined Kendra in her tent and smiled "You through playing the love doctor?" he asked playfully

"Only to other cases" she said as he sat next to her and pulled her into his arms, she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulders. This was where she felt safe and whole, whatever had happened earlier was momentarily forgotten as three couples bonded through the night.

* * *

The next morning Helo and Sharon scouted a little of the area towards the mountains before returning to camp so the whole group could get ready to move out, Kendra lay with Sam in their tent, awake but just enjoying each others company

Suddenly and plants rustled and some birds took flight as they were disturbed by something close in the woods. Everyone immediately jumped to their feet and took out whatever weapon they carried and faced the direction of the noise

Lee swung out from behind his tree as Kara moved to cover him only for Lee to stop when faced with the man who stood there in forest combat dress and an assault rifle in his hands. The older man was a stockier man than Lee but his eyes remained focused and emotionless, a strong aura extended from the man. Although Kendra and Sam had no idea who this man was the rest of the camp did and Kara lowered her weapon as did Helo. But Lee remained frozen his weapon still aimed straight at the unknown man.

"Put down your weapon Captain" the older man said in a deep graveled tone and almost immediately Lee did as he was told, then the older man lowered his own weapon and moved closer to Lee, and then showed the first sign of emotion when he pulled Lee into a tight hug and tears formed in his eyes. Still holding Lee the older man turned to Laura and with a certain tension in her voice she greeted him with

"Commander"

It then dawned on Kendra who this man was; Commander William Adama of the _Battlestar Galactica_, a living legend in the fleet and Lee's father.

But it seemed Commander Adama was happy to see Laura "It's good to see you too" he told her with a slight smile and Laura visibly relaxed, a smile coming to her face. Then it was Laura's turn to be shocked as a young man approached her from behind the commander.

"Madam President" the young man greeted and Laura looked at the young man with relief and tears of happiness in her eyes

"Billy" she said "Billy you have no idea what it means to me to have you here." Billy smiled back

As Laura went to reconnect with Billy, Commander Adama went over to Kara. Kendra, Helo and Sam watched as the old man tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear in a paternal gesture

But the beautiful moment was short lived as Sharon stepped inner view from behind a tree, one of the new arrivals shouted to the Commander who looked up at the woman who bore the same face as the woman who had shot him and walked slowly towards her

Helo shouted to him that she was on their side and Kendra held her breath to see what the man would do

Then he struck Sharon to the ground and held her throat as if to strangle her, everyone jumped forward to pull the Commander off of Sharon but Kendra moved faster than any of them and with strength that she shouldn't have possessed with a frame of her size single handedly pulled him off Sharon and passed him to Lee. Her show of strength shocked everyone but it was forgotten as more pressing matters took hold

* * *

As the Commander and Laura spoke privately to resolve their issues, Kendra sat with Helo and Sharon and Sam

"You sure you're alright?" Helo asked while holding Sharon protectively in his arms and she smiled back

"Yes I'm fine, thanks for getting him off before he could close his grip" Sharon said and turning to Kendra "How'd you pull him off by the way?" she asked and Kendra suddenly felt scared, she'd dreaded answering this question

"I don't know, I just sort grabbed him and pulled him off. I'm not that strong, I don't know how I did it" she confessed and Sharon looked her straight in the eye and said

"It's your Cylon physiology, you must still be changing although as you're just the template you shouldn't have all our abilities so why your still changing I don't understand"

"I had a vision" the words came out of Kendra's mouth before she could stop them "Of the Opera House here on Kobol when I found this broken arch. Why?" she said not really expecting an answer but now she'd confessed it the weight lifted from her shoulders and the others were shocked at her revelation

"A vision" a soft voice sounded from the side of the tent as Elosha appeared "The gods have gifted you with a vision of things to come, please" She said sitting on the floor of the forest "Tell us"

So she explained what she had seen and Elosha looked at Sharon for a brief moment and pulled out her copy of the Book of Pythia

* * *

_Life is crazy but updates will come_

_Thank you those who found the time to read_


	11. Chapter 11

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 11 – Finding the Map**

Elosha consulted the book and shook her head "There is no mention of anything like you have told me but there is a mention of two children who will be at the centre of a battle between those of flesh and those of metal"

"Humans and Cylons" Helo said to which Elosha nodded

Before they could speculate more Commander Adama walked towards the group and studied Kendra intently, his piercing blue eyes had her feel as if this man could see her very soul

"Lieutenant Shaw" he said and military discipline took over Kendra's body, she jumped to her feet and her back straightened and her arm moved into a salute

"Sir" she said crisply and he looked her straight in the eye and despite how nervous she felt, she didn't look away

His gaze relaxed a little as though she had passed some kind of test and he said "At ease lieutenant, I understand you came from the _Pegasus_" he asked

"Yes sir" she answered back now feeling more at ease with his reduced intensity

"Any chance it is still intact?" he asked

"As far as I know yes, the Cylons at the camp kept mentioning it striking at them but causing little real damage" she said back "I don't know where it is now though if that's what you're asking"

"Will you follow my orders?" he asked her

"Yes sir"

"Once we get back to _Galactica_ I want you to tour it, get a look at everyone aboard and point out any Cylon agents then once _Galactica_ is secure go to the civilian fleet and do the same, one ship at a time" he told her

"Yes sir"

"Good Lieutenant, now stand down while I talk to my son" the older man said and walked away to the Captain a few metres away

Kara smiled a teasing grin and made a mock salute and said in an exaggerated formal tone "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir"

Kendra just said "Shut up"

* * *

Meanwhile on the_ Astral Queen _in one of its prison cells 'John' sat waiting for news of the expedition to Kobol, when one of the guards came up to the cell with someone else beside him. John couldn't see the other person just their shadow on the wall. The guard was a middle aged man with greasy black hair and whose posture and stature made him look squat

"You have a visitor" the man said gruffly and the other person stepped into view and John saw that it was a Six

"Thank you" the Six said seductively, pressing herself against the guard who eagerly grabbed a tight hold on the Six's back, pulling her even closer; she slowly drew her hands to his face as if to pull him into a kiss and then promptly snapped his neck

"Well you're an efficient one aren't you" John told the Six "What do they call you?"

"My sisters call me Lisa. We need to get you out of this before they return from the surface, I've got some poison or would you prefer a bullet?" she asked unconcerned, John walked forward and picked up the dead guard's weapon

"Ok but do it after I leave so I can get away from here before the humans hear…" she started to say but before she could finish her sentence John turned the gun and pulled the trigger

The accompanying bang was loud enough to alert the guards, but the bullet fired by John hit her straight in the head, after checking she was dead, John went to sit on his bunk

"You'll be pissed when your download but, in time you'll understand what I found, where we went wrong, I only wish I'd had time to get the other Cylons in the fleet so they too could be told the fascinating truth I have discovered. I suppose we'll have to rely on Kendra Shaw to send them back to us" He mused before the guards arrived at his cell

Their faces were shocked at the sight of their fellow guard and the dead woman lying on the floor, before they turned to look at John who just smiled and said lightly

"Just shoot if it'll make you feel better"

His words were quickly answered with a hail of bullets

* * *

A few hours later, the Expedition now accompanied by Commander Adama, Galen Tyrol and Billy, continued on to find the tomb, moving through thick woodland to discover the route to Earth. The woods they'd been in started to thin out into a small opening near a cliff. Although there was much growth over the bottom of the cliff a door carved out of the rock could clearly be seen

They all stopped to marvel at the door and Laura turned to face Kara

"Lieutenant Thrace, I hope you have that arrow handy" and both women smiled as Kara reached for the cylinder on her back to retrieve the precious artefact

Suddenly Sharon turned around and pulled a hidden pistol from somewhere, pointing point blank into Commander Adama's chest

Lee immediately pulled his rifle and aimed directly at Sharon and Meier pulled his own pistol and aimed at Lee's head. Kendra pulled her own weapon and targeted Meier's head, but before she could pull the trigger, Sharon whipped around and fired a round straight into Meier's chest, Lee then quickly put one into one of Zarek's men who had accompanied them who had pulled his own weapon on him

Quickly Lee now aimed his rifle onto Sharon who now had pressed her pistol's barrel right into Adama's chest and Sharon started speaking in an almost desperate voice

"I need you to know something. I'm Sharon but I'm a different Sharon. I know who I am. I don't have hidden protocols or programs lying in wait to be activated. I make my own choices. I make my own decisions and I need you to know that this is my choice."

Then she released her grip on the butt and let it hang from her finger, now pointing upside down back at herself, Commander Adama slowly took the pistol from her hand, staring intently into her eyes.

Everyone around them including Kendra herself waited with baited breath to see what the 'old man' would do

And everyone breathed a sigh of relief as he passed the weapon to Galen Tyrol who asked her where she'd got it and then Sharon revealed the truth while Zarek held Meier's hand as he died

* * *

A while later they group should around while Kara and Lee moved over the stone door trying to get it to open

"And the Arrow of Apollo will open the Tomb of Athena" Elosha quoted from Laura's side

"Yeah, well, unless anyone sees a keyhole, or whatever then we're either in the wrong place or we're just perfectly screwed." Kara said as she continued to examine the stone door

"Maybe this isn't the tomb, the door leading to the tomb" Kendra suggested, everyone turned to face her

"What do you mean?" Zarek asked, his gaze made Kendra feel uncomfortable

"If this tomb was built to a standard layout then usually there is a front door leading to the tomb from the outside" Kendra explained

"And how the frak would you know that?" Kara asked her

"Classics Major, studying classical culture can go hand in hand with archaeology which I did as a combined" she said off hand and walked over the door and placed both her hands on it

Commander Adama and Galen Tyrol got the idea and placed their own hand on the door and all three pushed, slowly the heavy rock door began to move, then Lee and Billy added their own strength and finally the door opened, Lee turned around and said cheekily to Kara

"After you" and the blond woman walked slowly past his giving him a seductive smile while Commander Adama looked on and then changed his focus to Laura who give him a little nod, then he followed them into the tomb joined by Laura, Elosha, Kendra and Billy after ordering Tyrol to stay outside and guard the entrance

* * *

The inside opened out into a circular room full of broken stone statues

"If the arrow didn't actually open the tomb, then how do we know we're in the right place?" Kara asked as they all looked around

"We don't" Adama said simply "But it's a tomb alright"

Elosha said in her calm tone "The scriptures say you need the Arrow to find the map"

"I recognise these statues" Kendra said looking around

"Me too" said Kara and looked at one of them "The ram, Aerilon" Then moved her gaze to the next one "Gemenon, the twins"

"Picon, the fish; Caprica the goat" Kendra continued seeing the same thing

Kara became very excited "These are the icons of the 12 tribes, the 12 colonies. And this is really where it all began" and Kendra felt excitement welling up inside herself as well and the two young women exchange a breathless smile as they continued to look around

The group continued to examine the statues around the room when Laura came upon something very interesting "Sagittaron, the archer" she said smiling

They all came over to examine the aforementioned statue for themselves and Commander Adama said

"He's missing something" nodding the lack of arrow upon his bow and Kara looked at the arrow in her hands and walked slowly over to the statue, gently placing the golden arrow in its rightful place.

The next thing they knew was darkness as the heavy stone door quickly slammed shut

* * *

The next thing they all knew was being surrounded by grass at night, anyone who had a weapon drew it and the moved into a tight circle

As they looked around they noticed a circle of large rough stone tablets around the each with different symbols carved into them with glowing gentle yellow points

Billy spoke first "Where the hell are we?" and Elosha fell to her knees

"A vision from the gods" and she quietly started praying

Laura said "I don't know, Tomb of Athena I think" looking around her studying their surroundings

Commander Adama was doing the same thing and said "I thought we were already in the tomb"

"I think Kendra was right about the door leading to tomb; that was the lobby" Kara said almost whispering

Laura then noticed something "Again the ancient symbols" and then Kendra then realised what the symbols actually were on the stones

"The original symbols of each of the twelve colonies from ancient times, back when the tribes went by their old names; Aries…Taurus" she started to say and Laura carried on

"Gemini" noting the star constellation above the stones that were identical to the symbols on the stones "Cancer…Leo…Libra…Virgo"

Adama said "The jewels match the constellations"

Lee stated "This is the map; this is the map to Earth"

"Maybe" Adama said "So is Earth in one of these Constellations?" he asked

Then Kara started to sound almost as if she was about to laugh "We're standing on it…We're standing on Earth" she said and this seemed to get Elosha to stop her prayers and add her own two cent

"The scriptures say that when the 13th tribe landed on Earth they looked up into the heavens and they saw their 12 brothers."

Laura said "Earth is the place, where you can look up in the sky and see the constellations of the 12 Colonies" and they all stared in awe at all that was around them

But Kara then brought them back down with a bump "I don't know what good it's gonna do us though. Then what are we supposed to do?" she asked "Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?"

Lee then pointed to the Lagoon Nebula above the Scorpio Constellation and his father said

"That's a long way from here"

"But now we have a heading and the map" Kendra said, grinning alongside Lee and the rest of them, then the world dissolved around them

* * *

_Two Days later…_

After they had pushed the door to the tomb open again and returned to the fleet, Commander Adama called and assembly, they all stood there in their dress uniforms (military) and smart clothes (civilians) listening to the Commander speak. After so long of being out of uniform Kendra felt strange being back in uniform let alone dress uniform with the decorative sash and now sporting a gold and black _Galactica_ patch rather than the blue and silver of _Pegasus_. The Resistance members such as Sam and Jean who still wanted to fight had been inducted into _Galactica's_ crew and would soon start training as pilots, the rest had settled into the Civilian fleet

She stood at Lee's left side opposite Kara on his right and took her new commanding officer's words in

"We have struggled since the attacks trying to rely on one another. Our strength and our only hope as a people is to remain undivided." Adama stopped for a moment to let his words sink in before continuing "We haven't always done all we could to ensure that. Many people believe that the scriptures, the letters from the gods will lead us to salvation. Maybe they will" the old man conceded

"But the gods shall lift those who lift each other." He continued quoting from the scriptures using them to carry his point "And so, to lift all of us let me present once again the President of the Colonies, Laura Roslin."

Laura then took that as her cue to go to the stage as the crowd including Kendra herself clapped. Once upon the stage, the commander continued to clap showing his support leading the others to follow and bringing a warm smile to Laura face as she said

"Thank you"

* * *

Later as Helo and Sharon spoke through the inter com on the specially constructed Cylon cell being secretly observed by Doctor Baltar and Helo mentioned he didn't their baby to be born in that cell, Baltar reacted with shock

Then the red dressed blond Cylon Model Six appeared again at his side, Baltar exclaimed

"Their child?" he asked the platinum blond

"I told you a child would arrive" she said to him "Told you it would be born right here in this room. How could you ever doubt me?" she said

"Boomer is going to bear our child" Baltar asked

"An honour for which she hardly deserves but one does not question God's will." Six told him

"Well you're not a chip that we've established" He said and she gave a small chuckle

"Yes"

Baltar turned to face the couple who were still conversing in the cell area "Sharon being pregnant does suggest that are rather more than a simple manifestation of my subconscious." He then turned to face her again "I'm not…"

"Crazy?" Six asked him and she went to hold his arms "No" she told him

"And how or what are you exactly?" the scared doctor asked as she gently caressed his face

"I'm an angel of god sent here to protect you" she told him looking deep into his eyes "To guide you and to love you"

But before either he or she could say anything more, a rather startled looking Lieutenant Shaw entered and looked straight at Six, her hand going to her side only to realise as she was still wearing her dress uniform she didn't have a side arm

"She can see me" Six said to Baltar as they both turned to look at her

* * *

_Please review and tell me what you think _

_Lisa is Tough Six from the 'The Plan' just to let you know_


	12. Chapter 12

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 12 – Duties**

Six immediately almost glided over to Kendra who pressed back against the door only for Six to place a gentle hand on the side of her face, while moving her mouth close to Kendra's ear. Kendra suddenly felt paralysed and her limbs wouldn't respond to her command

"So you're the 13th Cylon, not what I expected" Six said in her ear and the Six's right hand moved down Kendra's body, from her head, down her neck, over her collar pass her breasts and down to her stomach where Six gently pressed. This brought a shiver down Kendra's spine

"So precious" Six whispered in her ear before suddenly vanishing, leaving Kendra pressing back against the door and Baltar looking at her with relief on his face

"I knew I wasn't crazy, you can see her too" he stammered and Kendra regained control of her limbs and took a few calming breaths while what had just happened boggled her mind, whatever 'that' was and what had just happened

"That means we're alike" Baltar said coming up to her and putting his hands around her shoulders

This brought Kendra back to her senses and she shrugged off Baltar's grip and said angrily at him

"We're nothing alike; it's just that something has decided to frak with our heads" she said walking around him to put some distance however slight from him and escaped out the door and not stopping to she found herself in the rack room which was blissfully empty. She quickly stripped off her dress uniform down to her fatigues and climbed into her new bunk and curled up

Then a hand started to move along her side almost like a ghost and she turned over to see the same red dress Six that had suddenly appeared in the cell area

"Who are you? What are you?" Kendra asked in a quiet voice as the Six got to her knees so she was level with Kendra

"I'm an angel from God. It's my mission to guide you and to watch over you and the child that's inside you" the Six told her in a smooth tone that sent shivers down her spine as the Six's hand moved from her side to her stomach and under her tanks and the ghostly hand touched her bare skin of her stomach and again Kendra found herself unable to move

"What?" she asked as her own hand moved over the Six's

"Soon" the Six said simply before pressing her lips to Kendra's and vanishing just like before. The shock of what had just occurred finally took its toll and Kendra fell into an uneasy sleep

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After an uneasy night's sleep where she was plagued by nightmares of her giving birth to a beautiful baby only for her to be stolen out of her arms by a Number One; she gave up on sleep and went to report to her new commanding officer.

She knocked on the hatch of the Commander's quarters and the hatch opened revealing the old man in his own fatigues

"Come in Lieutenant" he said and opened the hatch enough for her to slip inside and they walked over to his desk where he sat down "Now how can I help you Lieutenant?"

"Did Lieutenant Thrace make you aware of what happened at the Cylon Camp Sir?" Kendra asked and the Commander's eyes stared at her intently

"What was done to you was in Starbuck's report yes" he answered and he fixed her with an unreadable stare

"I want to start routing out the frakking bastards as soon as possible sir" she said briskly while burying her anxiety and obviously the Commander saw something because he asked

"Are you sure about that Lieutenant?" he asked

"Yes sir"

Adama reached over to his phone and asked "Get me a Marine Detachment sent to my cabin immediately"

"Thank you Sir" Kendra said but the Commander was still looking at her with suspicion but she manage to stop herself squirming

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The marine detachment quickly arrived led by Corporal Venner and Kendra began to tour the ship with the marines in tow. She quickly cleared the CIC and most sensitive areas of the ship before going deck by deck. Eventually she came upon a small compartment that someone had claimed as a temple. As Kendra went to enter she was stopped by Venner

"This is a holy place" he reminded her and she gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder

"We're not going to break anything, just take a look at whoever's inside" and she opened to hatch to enter and walked into the open area to see two men conversing, the two men turned to face them although Kendra hadn't seen their faces yet

"Sorry Brother Cavil we just wanted to search the ship for Cylon bugs" Venner said as to not insult the priest by implying he might be a Cylon

"That's quite alright, we were just finished here weren't we" Cavil said to the other man but upon hearing that voice, Kendra immediately went for her weapon, knowing that voice anywhere and upon moving to the side to see the men clearly only for her horror to double as she saw not only Cavil's face but the other man's face, it was a Number 4. She aimed at Cavil's head and shouted out

"On your knees; both of you get on knees hands behind your head" and the marines looked at her alarmed while the two men got to their knees

"What are doing that man's a priest" Venner said outraged at her behaviour but she silenced him with a quick look

"HE'S A CYLON, BOTH OF THEM ARE" she shouted at the marines after moving her gaze back to the two men kneeling on the floor and with that some of the marines quickly aimed their rifles on the kneeling Cylons but still unsure Venner looked torn

Kendra thought quickly "Look ask Starbuck, ask Helo Agathon, what the hell ask anyone of the Caprica Resistance, they've all seen one just like him on Caprica" and with reluctance Venner followed the orders of the young officer and placed binders on the two captured Cylons

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the two were secured in the Brig and their identities confirmed by Starbuck and Sam Anders, Kendra cleared the rest of the ship and declared that the _Galactica_ was free of any more hidden Cylon Agents and _Colonial One_ was next on the list, and there Kendra and the marines captured another Cylon agent this time a Number Three going by the name D'Anna Biers who was trying to interview President Roslin about the 'Gideon Massacre' or something like that.

The remaining ships checked out clean and no other Cylons were found, Cavil refused to co-operate and was airlocked immediately, D'Anna proved equally uncooperative and followed the Number One into space. But the Number Four would talk with Kendra

So in a dim interrogation room the Four who called himself Simon was released from his shackles and sat at the other end of a table from Kendra, a marine was in the corner constantly watching for signs of trouble

"Why are you willing to talk to me?" she asked him and his mouth curled into a smile, not the cold almost sadistic smile that she had seen on Number Fours before but a genuine warm smile with happiness dancing in his eyes

"Because I love her" he said

"Love who?" Kendra asked

"My wife Giana and her daughter Jemmy, they're my world and if I can keep them safe, I'll do anything I need too" he said

Kendra was astonished, the look in his eyes told her he was completely serious and did love this woman, it was the same look Helo had Sharon, the same Sam had for her

"You do realise that by helping us, your betraying your own people?" she said to him but he shook his head

"My people betrayed themselves, rather than try to move on they have been consumed by the old hatred of humanity and that will ultimately lead to their own destruction. My wife and her child have shown me what love really is and I can't and won't give that up" Simon told her and again she struck by his belief

She was interrupted in this interrogation by a ringing of the phone in the corner of the room, she went over to answer it and the voice in her ear was Lieutenant Gaeta

"Giana O'Neill wants to see you, she just outside" he told her and Kendra replaced the receiver before turning back to face Simon

"I'll be back in a minute" she said and exited the room through the only hatch. Outside a rather tense looking woman dressed in deck crew overalls who was a few years older than Kendra herself stood nervously tapping her foot

"Is it true?" she asked in a smooth accent that Kendra couldn't place "Is my husband a Cylon?"

"Yes it's true" Kendra confirmed to her the other woman's face fell

"I thought he loved me. Gods" she explained in despair before Kendra grabbed her by the arms and forced Giana's to meet her own

"He does, he's selling out his own people to protect you. I look into his eyes and I see that he's so in love with you, nothing else matters to him and I think you do love him too" Kendra told her and Giana looked torn as her love from Simon warred with her hatred of Cylons

Kendra couldn't understand even to herself as to why she was getting so involved in this, it was as if some kind of compulsion had come over her and then she revealed something to Giana

"My fiancé cheated on me and yet I still love him. I was captured by the Cylons and they experimented on me and they stole my face, in a year's time they'll be Cylon models running around with my face and Sam doesn't care. Because he loves me" she told Giana who was shocked out of her conflict by Kendra's revelation

Giana asked "Can I see him?"

"Of course" Kendra said and smiled, but underneath she couldn't under it, why was she acting this way and as she escorted Giana into the interrogation room she placed a hand on her stomach

'What's happening to me?' she thought to herself

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a new Cylon Cell had been built for Simon Kendra went over to see Doctor Cottle and asked him to perform a pregnancy test

She sat on a gurney and waited for the results, nervously bracing her hands on her legs while thoughts raced through her mind

'I' am I pregnant? Was that little girl in the vision mine?' She thought nervously 'Can I raise a child, never mine a child brought up on a battlestar?'

But she was interrupted by the return of Doctor Cottle with the results of the test

"Well?" she inquired the tension was nearly overwhelming

The old doctor gruffly told her "Inconclusive"

"What?" Kendra asked him

"Inconclusive, you have some of the signs of pregnancy but other signs are missing, we'll have to wait a little bit longer before we know for sure" he said "Now come back in three weeks, I should be able to tell then" he told her and Kendra silently exited, lost in her thoughts

While she was wandering the corridors she saw Giana with a little girl who Kendra presumed to be Jemmy as the mother and daughter had now moved onto _Galactica_ to be closer to both her job and her husband, Kendra smiled as Giana showed her awed daughter around their new home but then a feeling of light headedness keep over Kendra and she closed her eyes.

_Almost as if it was a dream Kendra saw Simon and Giana standing in the middle of a golden light Jemmy sitting against Simon and in Giana arms there were two babies_

Kendra blinked and she found herself back in the corridor, she quickly walked away and hid in one of the vacant meeting rooms on _Galactica_ while seeing paper and pens on a nearby cabinet started drawing like a woman possessed

And before long there were a number of drawings on the floor in front of her, all of people but she didn't understand what had guided her hand

She picked up a picture of the little girl she had picked up during that vision on Kobol and stared


	13. Chapter 13

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 13 – A Cover Blown**

Hiding the drawings in her locker, Kendra went back to her rack so she could get ready for her shift on the CIC. Because of her skills in communications and DRADIS, she had been assigned to work with Lieutenant Gaeta and Ensign Dee on navigation, communications and FTL Jump plotting. The other two didn't seem to have a problem with her and the shifts passed without incident.

But a few nights had passed and Kendra started to notice that she wasn't getting tired despite only sleeping a couple of hours (avoiding it so she didn't have to face the nightmares) she just didn't feel tired. She still ate and drank but needed very little sleep. From what she'd learned from Sharon, Cylons providing they had food and water didn't need sleep.

As much as this terrified her that she was going to lose more of her humanity, she decided to put this to good use. She started attending Nugget classes and learning how to fly vipers and raptors as well as continuing her duties on the CIC. When Kara had questioned her about how she was managing it, she told her in confidence about her new inherited abilities. Kara wasn't happy about it but let her continue training.

She eventually earned her Viper pilot qualification and pinned her wing insignia onto her uniform and wore them with pride. Officially she was a reserve pilot just in case too many of the regular pilots were killed or incapacitated.

She was also assisting in the investigation into the Centurion Transport they'd captured which was now docked in the Starboard flight pod of _Galactica_ and out of the way; they hoped to find something in Cylon technology they could exploit and from it she, Gaius Baltar and Lieutenant Gaeta had already determined how to upgrade the fleet's FTL drives to increase their range and durability. The organic nature of the drives was a bit difficult to cross over but with some help from Sharon they'd managed it.

Kendra's relationship with Sharon was a strange one; she didn't really think of Sharon as a friend or vice versa but the two of them found they could talk to each other about whatever was concerning them.

Right now it was Kendra's turn to listen to Sharon who was struggling to cope with being locked up in this cell

"It's just the same four walls all day, every day. No change in the routine and only you and Helo come to see me; Kara comes every now and again but that its. I just wish I had something to do" Sharon said as they talked via the telephone "Helping out with the study of the Transport was great but I wish there was something else" she finished with frustration

"Maybe we could try to convince the Commander to let you have some books or something to read?" Kendra suggested and Sharon almost laughed

"Like that'll happen, he still hates me for what Boomer did" Sharon said with a bitter laugh

"Maybe if you offered something, we could convince him to give you a few privileges" Kendra suggested although she doubted it would make much difference

"Maybe" Sharon said but she doubted that anything she said mattered to the commander.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX**

Gaius Baltar was sitting in his lab, and he was worrying.

If Kendra Shaw could see Six too then maybe she might tell them that he was a collaborator if six told her about what had happened back in the colonies. He had to neutralise her as a threat.

He had been told by the President so he could perfect his Cylon detector that Kendra was now half Cylon as a result of the experiments done to her in the camp, so by studying Kendra he might notice some differences his detector could pinpoint. If he exposed her to the fleet, then no-one would believe a word she said, whether she had worked with the Cylons or not she was still half Cylon, in their eyes she might as well be in league with them.

Deciding on his plan he picked up his evidence in the cell samples from Shaw and headed over to _Colonial One_ where he had to meet with Playa Palacios.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kendra was working on in the gym area on _Galactica_, bench pressing some weights. She put the weights back after her hundred and fiftieth press when she noticed the time. She had just enough time to get a shower before her shift on the CIC. She got up and wiped the sweat off her forehead when she saw Gaius Baltar coming into the gym with some marines. They looked around before focusing on her and coming over

"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked with a clipped tone, Gaius smiled that sanctimonious smile of his and announced with a dramatic flair that was very overblown

"Kendra Shaw you are being placed under arrest on suspicion of being a Cylon agent" immediately the marines surged forward and seized her placing her in cuffs

"What! Get off me" she protested as she half carried and half dragged through the ship to the brig while the crew in the corridors watched in surprise.

On _Colonial One_ President Roslin was defended her position as the quorum ruthlessly questioned her about her letting Kendra run free.

"Lieutenant Shaw is not a Cylon; she helped clear our fleet of any Cylon agents that were here" Laura argued reminding them of her service, but the quorum members wouldn't listen having only heard Playa's announcement that Kendra was half Cylon.

"She's half-Cylon, it's probably part of a Cylon plot" Zarek shouted and the rest of the representatives jumped on his accusations but Laura picked up a metal cup and slammed it down on the table, silencing the noisy delegates

"Kendra Shaw was a victim of some horrific experiments that the Cylons used to try and create new models for their people, she was tortured and abused in terrible ways in that camp and if Kara Thrace had not busted her out she would have endured much more. She has as much if not more reason to hate the Cylons as any of us" she said in a firm and cold voice silencing even Zarek with both her voice and a glare that almost made them sliver.

Baltar looked on as the news spread and Kendra's name was dragged through the mud as he travelled back to _Colonial One_, but his smile was wiped off his face when he saw six had appeared in the corner of the raptor and looked furious.

"Why Gaius?" she said in a frosty voice "Why did you expose her? She's so important in God's plan" and stared at him, making him feel like a bug under her microscope

"She might have exposed me, she doesn't believe in God" he said after he regained some confidence, hoping the pilot couldn't hear him.

"Whether she believes or not is not important. She is crucial to breaking the cycle, more important than you" Six told him with a sneer making him feel scared as his confidence deserted him again. She sighed in frustration and massaged her temples

"We will have to deal with this and if you so much as interfere one in the slightest, we will crush you" she said coldly before vanishing and leaving Gaius alone as he shook with fear at her threat

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX**

Kendra was doing some push ups in the cell while she waited for someone to come and tell her what was going on, the marine at the door was just ignoring her. Finally after more than two hours Commander Adama came and she stood to attention

"Lieutenant Shaw" he acknowledged

"Sir if you could just please explain what the frak is going on" she said

"It seems someone let slip about your altered physiology and the fleet is up in arms" he told her and said without flinching although he didn't loo happy about it "For your own safety and the good of the fleet I'm going to have to put you in a Cylon cell"

Kendra protested "But sir" but Adama cut her off

"I'm sorry lieutenant but until the fleet calms down its best to place you somewhere safe and to reassure the fleet" he said looking genuinely sorry on her behalf and left. The marine detachment he had brought with him unlocked her cell and with a resigned sigh she went with them. The crew lined the corridor and jeered at her as she past, they even threw things at her, she tried her best to stand up straight and look like it didn't bother her but inside she was dreading being locked up in a cell again this time by her own people. When they got there, Kendra's heart sank even more, it was exactly like the other two cells that held Sharon and Simon, a small confined space with only a bunk and toilet. She was shoved inside by the marines and watched the door slam shut sealing her in.

Immediately the cell felt claustrophobic and Kendra sat down on the bunk pulling her legs against her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX**

Without a chrono, Kendra couldn't be sure how much time had passed before someone had come to see her. Kara appeared at the wall of the cell and picked up the telephone used to talk to the prisoner. Kendra got up and picked up the receiver on her side.

"So is service in here is as lousy as they say?" Kara asked amused and Kendra said back thankful for someone to talk to

"Pretty much, I think next time I'll try a different room" and both women laughed before falling into silence for a moment before Kara told her

"The old man's trying to get you released and Roslin's arguing your case with the scum, sorry quorum but everyone is so whipped up right now they'd have a riot on their hands if they let you out"

"I guessed as much" Kendra said and asked "Do you think that you could get me something to read or I'll go crazy in here?"

"I'll see" Kara nodded but remembering that they hadn't managed to get stuff for Sharon after asking for days it seemed very unlikely

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX**


	14. Chapter 14

_I do now own Battlestar Galactica _

_Warning bad language _

**Chapter 14 – Pain**

Kendra was so bored, she had completely lost track of time.

She stared aimlessly at the walls around, feeling them intently as she just sat there on the bed locked up in this small box. Kara and Sam had taken the time to visit but only sparingly, she missed Sam's touch as their hands nearly touched only to be stopped by the glass. They tried to keep her spirits up but she felt herself getting more and more emotionally numb as time passed, disconnected, discarded and forgotten.

She felt to do some press-ups, one of the few exercises she could do in here when it happened; as she did her tenth press-up she suddenly loss feeling in her arms and she felt flat on her face against the deck unable to right herself and she felt so light headed.

Then the shaking began, it was uncontrollable as her muscles spasm uncontrollably, she could only lie there as her body jerked violently and blood ran from her nose and her senses went wild with sensation.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX**

Unaware of what was going on in the Cylon cell not far from the pilot's rec room, some of the pilots of _Galactica_ were receiving their rations for the day. They all turned the noses up at it but were so hungry that they tucked into the food with too much complaint. Lee was there eating with his pilots, as they made light of their situation with jokes and the macho attitude they all had from their job. Starbuck was absent from this hive of slightly forced merriment and comradely it made you forget for a while the desperateness of their situation.

Lee was about to get up to go work on the Cap schedule when he suddenly doubled over in pain, sending his to his knees as he just managed to hold his arms out in front of himself so he didn't fall against the deck, his head became dizzy and his stomach wretched and he threw up against the deck plates. After this he managed to lift his head to look at the other pilots and saw that they were much the same as him, struggling to stay upright as their bodies weakened suddenly and they vomited all over the floor. Lee on all four managed to crawl over to the wall telephone in between vomiting and grasps the receiver before out of breath manages to say before he slides down the wall and the receiver slips from his hand

"Pilot's rec room, we need help"

He can hear Dee's voice on the receiver just but he cannot reply, soon a marine detachment arrives and Lee his vision now hazy and feeling so hot manages to make out the shape of Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias trying to talk to him before he passes out

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX**

"It seems that the food processor that handled the pilot's rations was faulty" Cottle told Commander Adama, Colonel Saul Tigh and President Roslin as they looked at the sick men and women that were lying on the beds of the infirmary "They've all gotten a form of food poisoning"

"Will they recover?" Adama asked trying not to look too concerned but his eyes kept drifting over to his son's bed and the other three people could see the worry in his eyes. Starbuck was sitting at Lee's side while he slept. The old man had noticed the concern in her eyes and noticed the change in their relationship and while it went against the regs he had given it his blessing. He was happy to see his son and adopted daughter figure happy.

"Yes thankfully it's not fatal but they'll all be out for at least a week maybe more till we can flush it out of their system" Cottle told him and despite being relieved to hear that his son was going to get better the time frame Cottle said worried him. Saul of course vocally expressed his concern

"That's most of our air wing in there. We need those pilots or the Cylons will wipe us out"

"Well you had better got find us enough pilots to last because these pilots aren't going anywhere for now so get the hell out of my infirmary" Cottle told them with a stern look and all three of them exited the place that was ruled by the gruff doctor.

"How many pilots do we have left and can we manage with just them?" Roslin asked and Adama shook his head

"We have only six Viper pilots left that are fit for duty and there's no way we can protect the fleet with so few planes in the air" he told her.

Saul wished he had a stiff drink "One large scale attack and the frakking toasters can wipe us out"

"Could the Raptor pilots take over?" Roslin suggested and Saul scoffed

"Flying a raptor is a lot different than flying a viper" but Adama decided to give it a shot

"Go through the files; see if any Raptor pilots have a viper qualification" he told Saul who despite looking doubtful went to follow his superior officer and oldest friend's orders and Adama turned to Laura who gave a slight smile

"What you have orders for me too?" she said teasingly and despite himself he smiled

"I need you to see if there are any retired military pilots in the civilian fleet that could come back and take over till our own pilots are healthy enough to take over, if it's not too much trouble" he said with his dry humour

"I'll get right on it" she said and walked off leaving Bill Adama with a smile for the first time in days

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX**

"Well I checked the files and only Racetrack, McMillan and Yolza have a viper qualification but they got that back in the academy so they're way out of practice" Saul told Adama and Starbuck who had managed to pull herself away from Lee in the Commander's quarters later on

"It's better than nothing" Adama told him "Starbuck as from now you are acting CAG until further notice, you get them up to speed fast" he said to the blonde pilot at his left as he studied the reports on his desk

"Sir I'm not a big enough ass hole for the job" Starbuck objected hating the thought off all the paper work that a CAG had to do. That was more Lee's thing

"You're senior pilot, now deal with it" he told her without looking up. He might love Kara like a daughter but on this occasion he needed to give her a kick up the back side and she looked reluctant but resigned

"Yes sir" she said and the phone on his desk rang. He picked it up and grimaced when he heard the message from the President. He put the phone down and sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose as Saul and Starbuck looked at him questioningly

"That was the President; she can't find any retired viper pilots in the fleet that willing or are able to come back" he said grimly and Saul remarked angrily

"Well that's just brilliant, now we have nine pilots instead of just six, that's just about half a squadron" and Starbuck looked at her CO and told him

"Sir I might know where I can get us another pilot" Saul and Adama looked at her in surprise

"Why didn't you mention this before Starbuck?" Adama asked

"Because you just put her in a Cylon cell sir" Starbuck told him

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX**

Kendra had finally stopped shaking and her mind had finally cleared as she crawled back onto the bed with difficulty, it took her a few moments to realise she'd just had a seizure and she suddenly became aware of the blood that had now dried on her face and she wiped it off with the sleeve of her jacket.

This latest development worried her, up until now the transition she'd been undergoing had been relatively painless and beneficial even. She wished she could get herself checked out but she knew that wasn't possible as long as she was in here.

That thought brought her straight back to the fact that she was still trapped in this cell but she now had to worry about her own health on top of being locked up in the cell.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX**

"You are not serious about letting that toaster hybrid out!" Saul said outraged, more a statement than a question but Starbuck looked back at him without fear

"She's done more to help us than you have and she's a qualified pilot" she said looking him straight in the eye. Saul looked ready to argue but Adama spoke first

"How long ago did she qualify?" he asked her

"Just a few days ago sir" Starbuck told him and with some worries about how well this was going to go down told her

"I'll authorise her release but you have to get her ready immediately and Starbuck" he told her "Tell her that whatever she does don't cause trouble we have enough of that as it is"

"Right away sir" she said with a smile and quickly left to have Kendra released. Saul looked at his old friend with anger

"You're going to let one of those things out?" he asked and a glare from Adama shut him down straight away

"She is one of us, she didn't ask to be a frakking experiment for the toasters and right now we need her" and Tigh fell silent

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Kara Thrace with the release order in her hand walked cheerfully down the corridor, eagerly awaiting the look on Kendra's face when she got her out of that cell.

Her relationship with the other woman was a strange one, neither of them had anything in common really but they just seemed to be able to talk to each other. Kara had to thank her for pushing her into a relationship with Lee, even as her heart clenched in fear of being vulnerable and her nightmare that Lee would be taken away from her she knew that he would always be there for her.

When she got to the cell and dismissed the marines guarding the area she walked up to the cell and unlocked the heavy duty locks and pulled open the door only for her smile to fade when she saw Kendra sitting on her bunk with a dried blood trail down her face coming from her nose. Kendra didn't even turn to look at her.

"Kendra?" Kara said finally getting the other woman's attention "What happened to you?" Kara looked at Kendra's nose and it didn't look broken

"Just one of the nastier side effects of what they did to me" Kendra said her voice shaking and Kara looked at her surprised

"Are you up to going back on duty?" Kara asked, Kendra looked at her with weary eyes

"What do you mean?" her voice coming out flat and tired

"The old man's letting you out to fly with our air wing" Kara said and explained what had happened. Kendra got to her feet a bit unsteady and stood straight giving Kara an exhausted salute

"Lieutenant Kendra Shaw reporting for duty sir" and Kara slipped into officer mode and said

"Then get your ass over to Doc Cottle and have him check you over, then hit the showers and be ready on the briefing room by 1300 hours. Dismissed" she said and with another salute Kendra began to slowly walk down the corridor nearly stumbling a few times but Kara walked closely behind her and caught her a few times before helping her to the infirmary. Doc Cottle wasn't available as he was taking care of the sick pilots, but Layne Islay the medic was on duty

"Right lie there" Layne said and Kendra nearly fell onto the bed the examination table causing Layne to eye her with concern

"Is there something you what to tell me?" Layne asked and she and Kara looked expectantly at Kendra who sighed before admitting

"I think that I had a seizure back in the cell" she said and their eyes widened and she told them what had happened. Layne gave her a check over before saying

"Whatever brought it on I don't know maybe your changing physiology" Layne told her "But aside from what you've just told me you seem perfectly healthy"

Kendra asked "But it could happen again right?" and Layne told her with a concerned expression

"Perhaps, but the longer you go without it happening again the better" Layne told her and with some reluctance cleared her for duty.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

After they had left the infirmary and Kara had taken a few minutes to see Lee and Kendra had taken a few minutes to see Sam they had made their way to the briefing room, Kendra now feeling a little better and steadier on her feet. As they moved through the corridors some crewmembers looked startled to see her and whispered or even glared at Kendra but would not risk angering the old man by doing something more. The other pilots had already arrived when they got there. Out of the regular line up there was Kat and Hotdog and a few of the guys and girls from blue squadron. Racetrack and the recruited Raptor pilots were there too. They all turned to look at who was entering and while they had expected Starbuck they were startled to Kendra with her.

"What the frak is she doing here?" Yolza shouted only to be silenced by Kara's glare. No one dared to go against her with that look

"Lieutenant Shaw is one of the few pilots left and we need everyone we can get. So if anyone has a problem speak up now and take it up with me and the old man" Kara said and the assembled pilots [paled. Dealing with just Starbuck was one thing but to have to deal with Commander Adama as well would be the same as suicide so they quieted down and made do with hidden glares as Kendra sat down in one of the free seats at the back while Kara took her place at the front of the room.

"Right you all know the situation, most of our pilots are down as is the CAG which means till he recovers I'm your new boss" Kara told them smugly and they all had to stifle a groan. Hotdog and Kat remembered especially how tough she'd been when training them and worried how hard assed she was going to be now.

"Right then we begin caps immediately and get you rooks up to standard and you had better deal with it or I'll get your asses kicked out of the military" Kara told them with a grin "Now suit up and get your asses down to the hanger deck and choose a bird and pick a wingman"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X**

They all got went to the buck room and changed into pilot flight suits before heading down to the launch bay where Chief Tyrol was waiting for them with his deck gang, Giana was there and she smiled at Kendra before returning to work

"Hey chief you got some birds for us?" Kara asked him when she reached him. The Chief pointed to ten vipers already put in launch position; there were three mark seven vipers and seven mark two vipers

"Just bring them back in one piece would you?" the Chief said with an annoyed expression only to shake his head when Kara gave him a cheeky little smile.

"Now pick a bird and get ready to launch" Kara told them and they all picked their viper and climbed into the cockpit. Kendra had picked a mark two next to Kara's; she climbed into the cockpit and put on her helmet. She heard the voice of the flight officer in her ear

"Electra" he said identifying her by her call sign "This is Shooter I have control standby" and the doors to the bay closed behind her "Nav-con green" then "Interval check" and Kendra checked her instruments and all read green. Her anticipation was building with every second as she looked forward at the launch tube doors. The mag-cap that helped push the vipers along the tube extended and locked into place and the doors opened venting the small amount of air still left in the tube showing the blackness of space ahead of her and Kendra felt a tingle in her body as she sat back in her seat and got ready, grasping the stick in front of her.

"Good luck" was all the warning she got from the flight officer before suddenly the viper she was in surged forward. Kendra felt the g-forces as the little ship rushed forward along the tube but then the dampers kicked in as the pressure eased a bit. She saw the end of the tube ahead of her coming closer and closer till finally she was in space.

She took over the flight controls without thinking about it, her training kicking in and looked around her to see the other pilots had now launched as well

"Right now you nuggets fall into formation" Kara voice sounded over the intercom and they all moved into the arrow head formation with Kara at the tip and Kendra at her five o'clock

Kara took them through a series of drills that went generally okay. All of them were qualified to fly but those who were used to flying raptors took a little longer to complete their manoeuvres and Kara took great pleasure in riding their asses about it. Kendra was impressed at Kara as a squadron leader, despite being rough with her pilots she only did it to get the best out of them and certainly didn't do it anymore than another flight leader would have done. Kara only gave clear instructions and in the simulated attacks they participated in Kara led them to victory every time with very few losses. Despite her saying that she wasn't CAG material, Kendra felt she was a great leader and a natural flyer.

After they had returned to _Galactica_ to refuel and re-arm while Kara gave the commander her report on their performance while they headed down to the now washed and cleaned rec room to get some rest before Kara took them out again. Kendra was sitting at the centre table playing cards with Racetrack, Yolza, Kat and Hotdog

"Man I can't wait for Apollo to get better, that bitch is pissing me off" Yolza said and Kendra's eyes narrowed. Yolza was a slimy and smug pilot who loved nothing better than speaking down to people when they weren't there to defend themselves as he was too much of a coward to do it to their faces. He had screwed up the most during their practice flight and Kara had let him know it.

"Hey at least she can fly without screwing up every ninety seconds" Hotdog said in defence of his old teacher and Kat surprising even herself added

"Why don't you go back to your bus" using the name viper jocks gave to raptors and Racetrack bristled at the name but glared at the annoying Yolza

"Why don't you get in it with me" Yolza said sneering as he leered at the female pilots sitting at the table who were just in their tanks and before anyone could say anything else Racetrack got up, pushed the table over and punched Yolza straight in the face sending to the floor and rushed forward to hit him again only for Hotdog and Kendra to hold her back but shouted

"You disgusting pervert" as her own disgust at the pilot who leered at her every day she and any other female crew took a shower and while they left Yolza to nurse his nose, Kendra said to Racetrack who was still trying to get at Yolza

"He's not worth it" and Racetrack seemed to calm down enough to stop struggling so Hotdog and Kendra could let her go and Kendra suggested "Let's hit the showers" as they were all tired and their muscles were tight so a lukewarm shower was just what they needed and so most the pilots except for Yolza headed for the showers.

They stripped and without any thought as to modesty stood under the warm stray and let the water do its magic on their bodies which finally started to relax. Kendra stood in the woman and raised he hair but Racetrack in the stall next to her interrupted her

"Is it true what they said about you?" and Kendra without even looking said

"What do they say?"

"That you're some kind of Toaster hybrid that you're in league with them" and Kendra turned to look Racetrack straight in the eye causing the other woman to become very uncomfortable but what she said made her feel worse

"Those toasters cut me open and tortured me with their experiments. I have never been in as much pain in my life. They stole me face so that in a year or so they'll be clones of me running around working for them. They were going to blank my memory and reprogram me so does that sound like I would work with them" her voice getting a little heated at the end and all the other people in the room had turned to look

Kendra took a breath before grabbing a towel and leaving the showers to dry off and get dressed in her tanks. She left the room and walked to the bunk room where she settled down on a bunk and despite not really needing to tried to get some sleep. She was interrupted by a voice that was sensual and seductive but filled her with hate as she recognised it

"You really need to come to terms with what you're becoming you know" and Kendra opened her to see that Six that no-one else could see smiling down at her "If you hate the Cylons then you are really hating yourself"

Kendra pushed up on her elbows "I'm human, I'm not and never will be a Cylon" and Six shook her head at Kendra's naivety

"Do humans not need sleep, can they chart and plot the stars with just their brains, and can they stand radiation without protection? No they can't" Six told her patronisingly causing Kendra's hackles to rise even higher "You have been granted these gifts, whether you like it or not you are or will be a Cylon" and her words struck deep in Kendra but she answered back without flinching

"I may have their gifts but I will not forget that I am Kendra Shaw and I'm a human being. Whatever abilities I might possess or changes in my body there might be that will always stay the same" and Six's smile fell for a moment before returning

"You're not ready for the truth yet but soon you will have to make a choice" and vanished leaving a confused Kendra behind

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

In the dead of night, or at least what counted as night on Galactica, Colonel Tigh stood in the CIC while his superior Commander Adama slept. He paced around the room glancing at the dradis monitor while the rest of the night watch quietly did their jobs. Then an alarm sounded as about twenty new contacts jumped in and started closing in on the fleet and the tactical officer on duty, a woman named Lieutenant Jennifer Miller immediately reacted

"Actions Stations, Action Stations, Set Condition One throughout the ships repeat action stations action stations" and the rest of the crew went straight to their duties as military discipline demanded. In the bunk room the pilots immediately leapt from their bunks and scrambled to get into their flight suits and rushing to the flight deck where the deckhands rushed to get the vipers ready. They all scrambled into their fighters and quickly launched themselves into space. Kendra sat in the cockpit of her ship and geared herself ready for the fight ahead. All around her the other vipers did the same and Kara gave her orders quickly and efficiently

"Broken formation, stick with your wingman and whatever you don't let them get you in their sights" and the other pilots stared straight ahead of them. They activated their boosters and started the moment they were in range let loose with their cannons, shredding three raiders right off the bat before having to break formation as the rest of the raiders closed the distance and fired their own cannons. Kendra was assigned as Racetrack's wingman and the two pilots weaved through the small group of fighters and started to dogfight with a couple of raiders.

Racetrack drew first blood when she managed to get a kill shot on her raider and gunned him down and then Kendra followed by getting her first kill of the day. Then they immediately went looking for another one.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Yolza was on the tail of a raider that was leading him away from the squadron and his wingman who shouted over the radio to get his ass back there but he wouldn't listen. The raider dodged gracefully every time he tried to get a kill shot but as he closed the gap Yolza got more and more carried away. Now he thought I can prove that botch Thrace wrong.

But then at the moment he was finally in position to get the kill, the raider did a mid-space flip right over him and dropped behind him before righting himself and getting Yolza in its sights and fired blasting his viper which exploded killing him instantly.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kendra was just scoring her third kill when she narrowly avoided a burst from a raider that was on her six o'clock she immediately took action and cut her boosters for a moment and activated her forward manoeuvring jets to spin herself around a hundred and eighty degrees before reactivating her boosters and turned to face her new attacker. She let loose with her cannons and scored her fourth kill before diving so to avoid the wreckage of the raider. Then she checked her dradis and saw Kara take out the last raider. She did a quick head count and aside from Yolza they hadn't taken any loses.

Then Dee's voice sounded over the intercom

"All ships return to _Galactica_ immediately"

They all quickly moved to the landing bay and did an immediate combat landing just in time before the fleet jumped away.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX**


	15. Chapter 15

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica_

**Chapter 15 – Surprises**

Lee and the other pilots had thankfully recovered and had now returned to duty. Kendra had been given her official release and despite having to deal with a few ignorant crewmembers glad to be free. She had taken back her old jobs and was now able to utilise her Cylon abilities to their full advantage calculating jump co-ordinates with much more precision and range.

There had been a slight hiccup when a Cylon logic bomb had infected _Galactica's_ computers but thanks to Sharon that particular threat had been neutralised.

Kendra was currently on the CIC and nearly at the end of her shift, she was going to go back to Doc Cottle straight afterwards and hope that the man could finally tell her if she was pregnant or not. She had definitely started to experience morning sickness and she hadn't had a period for quite a while.

She smiled when Lieutenant Gaeta finally arrived to relieve her and the intelligent young officer looked at her with a slight smile. He wasn't quite as prejudiced as the rest of the crew and had taken the news of her special nature better than most.

"Here it's all yours" she told him getting up from the tactical station allowing him to sit down and she made her way to the infirmary

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Meanwhile in the pilot's bunk room, Kara Thrace was being sick in the toilet. She had been doing this for the last couple of days and it was really starting to get annoying. She must have picked up a bug or something and should probably go and see Cottle before Lee see's and pulls her off flight duty.

After it being finally over, she got up and dressed in her tanks before making her way to the infirmary. When she got there, Kendra was sitting on the examination table receiving Cottle's attention. They had just finished up when Kara came in and Kendra took one look at her before saying

"You look like hell" and Kara reacted with a sarcastic

"And you look like one of Hotdog's attempts at cooking" reminding them of the time that the mentioned pilot had nearly smoked out the ship cooking a fish he'd acquired from one of the civilians

"Touché, but seriously are you alright?" Kendra asked and Kara said truthfully

"I've just picked up some bug, it's nothing Are you alright?" Kara asked remembering the seizure she'd had before

"Fine, I just needed to check whether my last nights with Sam had any 'consequences'" she said and Kara's eyes widened

"You're…" Kara started but Kendra stopped her

"I'm not sure yet, Cottle just went to check the results" and then as if her words had summoned him, the gruff Doctor returned with a cigarette in his mouth

"Well?" Kendra asked and Cottle took one look at her before saying

"Congratulations lieutenant you've got a kid" he said and Kendra felt like the deck had fallen out from under her and only managed to avoid falling over by sitting down in a vacant chair.

"Sucks to be you" Kara said smugly but her world was about to be shaken as Cottle turned to her and asked

"What is it you want Starbuck I've got things to do" he said impatiently

"I think I might have picked up a bug" she said and he sighed before telling her to get on the examination table while he checked her over and sent some samples for some tests.

"Just wait a minute, you'll get your results in a moment" he told Starbuck. Kendra hadn't moved from the chair she was sat in since he's told her the news and Kara shook her shoulder after getting off the table

"Hey there, it's not the end of the world, we got through that already" Kara said, in her way it was meant to be reassuring but it didn't help Kendra. Yes she had been expecting him to tell her she was pregnant but to actually hear it was something else entirely. All her fears about raising a child on a Battlestar and what Sam would think came flooding back in an instant. Would the baby be healthy after everything the Cylons had done to her?

But she was woken from her thoughts by Cottle who returned with Kara's results shaking his head in a quiet laughter

"Yeah doc what is it?" Kara asked and Cottle laughed again before telling her

"It's the first time I've confirmed two pregnancies in the same day, lieutenants. You're both up the spout, now accept the consequences your both off duty till later notice" he said laughing his way back to his office

Kara had suddenly frozen in much the same way Kendra had done but Kendra suddenly got a smile on her face

"Clear up" she teased "It's not the end of the world, we already lived through that"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Kendra left Kara to go and tell Sam, Kara now sitting on a chair in the infirmary staring into space. 'How could this happen?' Kara thought to herself 'I was taking the contraception shots' but then the unwanted thought leapt into her head

'When you went to Caprica to get the Arrow you took an anti-radiation injection. They can interfere with contraceptive shots" she remembered and cursed her stupidity. She should never have slept with Lee until she'd had a new shot. Now her flight status was gone and she had a kid on the way. She remembered suddenly all the abuse she'd suffered at the hands of her own mother and felt ice going down her spine as she was confronted with the horrible thought that she might end up just like her

'Lee' she suddenly thought 'Oh gods what was he going to think?' their relationship so far had only been casual this would tie them together forever. She would have to tell him, she couldn't keep this from him.

So she slowly got up and walked almost in a daze to his office, she found him there just filing paperwork. Completely unaware of the bomb she was about to drop on him. She was tempted just for a moment to spare him this, but she knew that she could never lie to him like that this kid was half hers and half his.

"Kara" he said surprised when he looked up and saw her hovering at the doorway "Is everything alright?" he asked concerned seeing her act so out of character

Kara wanted to scream at him that everything was not alright but she was kept in place by her fear and walked slowly up to his desk and said quietly

"I just went to see Cottle" and Lee's concern doubled

"What's wrong?" he said getting up and walking around his desk to take her in his arms

"I'm pregnant" she said before she lost her nerve and Lee froze. His arms tightened around her but he looked her right in the eyes

"Our baby?" he asked and Kara just nodded

Lee was just as shocked as she had been; he was terrified especially after the way he had run away before when Gianne had told him she was pregnant. But one look at Kara and he knew he wouldn't do that, he would never abandon her. He kissed her gently and she immediately responded allowing him to deepen the kiss

When he eventually ended he let her rest her head on his shoulder while he pulled her tightly against him and she wrapped her arms around him as he whispered in her ear

"It'll be fine Kara" but Kara said without even looked up

"But what if it isn't? What if something happens? What if I end up hurting the baby like my mom hurt me?" she said with tears forming in her eyes as she started to cry but Lee leapt back just enough to wipe away her tears and tell her with utter conviction

"You would never do that, you're a better person than she was and any baby would be so lucky to have you as a mother"

"Or you as a father" Kara added and lent back into Lee's arms and against his chest while he stroked her hair.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Kendra was sitting in the bunk room waiting for Sam and the other rooks to come back from their flight exercises and rehearsing what she was going to say to him. But every word she tried just sounded stupid. Then she was interrupted from her thoughts by a sound she had grown to hate

"Congratulations are in order" Kendra looked up and saw that damn Six was there again

"Come here to gloat?" Kendra asked and the ghostly woman put on a mock affronted look

"Me gloat, absolutely not" Six said "You have the future growing inside you. It's a great honour"

Kendra then asked a question that was spinning around her mind "Is she going to be healthy?"

Six smiled saying in a reassuring way "She will be beautiful, the image of her mother" and then vanished leaving Kendra alone. But not for long as the rooks started drifting in and Sam was talking to Jean and Sue-Shaun when he noticed her

"Kendra, is everything alright?" he asked her seeing the look on her face but Kendra asked him mindful of the other pilots in the room who were all looking at her

"Can we talk somewhere alone?" and Sam puzzled said

"Sure" and he followed her into a spare briefing room and shut the door behind him

"So what's going on?" he asked her and Kendra blurted out

"I'm having your baby"

Sam much like Lee had done froze at first but then all of a sudden he cried out in joy before pulling her into his arms and swinging her around and kissing her passionately. Kendra's arms fixed themselves around his shoulders

Kendra was shocked at his response especially when he exclaimed out loud "We're going to have a baby" and Kendra suddenly couldn't help but smile as well.

They were having a baby

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lee had sat down with Kara to ask her something

At the same time in a different area of the ship Sam had done with same with Kendra and both men asked a question that they had been meaning to ask for some time

"Will you marry me?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

_This story is not dead, I just had to do a lot of stuff first and think long and hard about where I was going to with it_

_Please Review and let me know what you think_


	16. Chapter 16

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 16 – The Weddings**

Kendra's reaction to Sam proposal was absolute silence while her brain tried to process what Sam had just asked her.

"Marriage" Kendra managed to say while her mind spun with the concept. They had been engaged before the Fall until Sam had cheated on her and afterwards she can't say she had ever imagined herself living to get married. Now since the loss of the Colonies that dream had been further away than before.

"Yes marriage, so Kendra Shaw" he said getting down on one knee while holding her hand "Will you marry me?"

Kendra's heart felt lighter and tears began to form in her eyes before saying to Sam "Yes, for the gods sake yes"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lee's proposal had caught Kara completely off guard, she had never expected yes. She had loved Lee Adama yes but their relationship had never been truly clear as too what it was and how marriage would work out between them was a mysterious she was too scared to solve but looking into Lee's eyes only one word would come to her lips as the love she felt for him welled up inside her

"Yes"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Despite trying to keep it under wraps soon gossipers like Hotdog spread it around not only the Battlestar but the entire fleet. Not a moment past without someone congratulating the two couples on their engagement and by the second day they were fast becoming sink of it. The only person that they had managed to tell before the news broke was the Commander and the President who had ushered them all into his cabin where they explained the whole story. The old man had stayed quiet throughout the whole experience and only perked up when Kara and Lee got to the point about Kara being pregnant and he sat straighter while casting a glance over to his daughter in law to be.

When they had finally finished he took a sip of his drink while Laura Roslin looked on smiling, happy for the two couples. Commander Adama put his drink down and said to them

"You realise the strains and responsibilities that marriage entails don't you? Some people struggle to cope with that" he said referring to his own experience

"We do sir" they all said and sat closer together. Bill looked at Lee and Kara who sat hip to hip with Lee's arm around Kara's shoulders and couldn't help but feel pride that his son had gotten should a good woman in Kara and that he was going to be a grandfather soon made the great weight on his shoulders that he had been carrying since the Fall of the Colonies lift slightly.

"Then by all means we should do it properly" Laura said "I'm sure that Elosha would be willing to officiate at a double wedding here on _Galactica_"

The four of them were surprised but nodded

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next few days were a nightmare; they wanted a simple quiet ceremony but it was quickly escalating into a far more public celebration. The President said that it was great for the fleet's moral to see the 'heroes' getting married. Already not only was the entire command crew of _Galactica_ going plus nearly all the deckhands but the President, the Vice President, the entire Quorum of the Twelve, nearly all the media reporters in the fleet and a hell of a load more besides. The clothing wasn't an issue thankfully since both grooms were military they could just use their dress uniforms except for Kara and Kendra who the President insisted on finding dresses for, annoying Kara and Kendra who would have preferred their own dress uniforms. Helo had agreed to act as best man and Dee was going to be Maid of honour. Elosha was going to officiate over the ceremony which was going to be held in the Starboard flight pod. They had even had to make special arrangements for Sharon to be let out for the day to attend with her spending the rest of the day with Helo before going back to her cell. The Commander had arranged for them all to have their own quarters on top of that.

Kara and Kendra were both in the rec room when Racetrack, Cally, Kat and a load of other female crewmembers came in the day before the wedding, the two had been playing pyramid to try and calm their nerves when they came in. Kara looked up and asked

"What is this?" and the female crewmembers all smiled holding bottles of alcohol and putting on some rowdy music

"Your hen night that's what" Kat said and offered the two of them cups of alcohol and promising themselves just one cup each

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Meanwhile in a store room on the hanger deck, Lee and Sam were getting a party of their own as Helo had arranged their bachelor party. The chief had found some booze and they were all cheering in a drunken euphoria as a stripper that Specialist James Lyman had managed to find. Lee and Sam were absolutely smashed by this point.

At the Hen night Kendra and Kara were more restrained given their delicate condition but they since did their best to enjoy their last night of freedom before tying the knot. Cally had even managed to convince one of the marines to do a strip tease for the party and when asked how, Cally made an offhand comment about having some porno mags that she had confiscated from some of the other deck hands and doing a trade. While his attentions were obviously lost on Kara and Kendra, Racetrack seemed all too happy to drag the marine off to her bunk while the party continued for the next few hours till they finally called it a night and felt to bed.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lee Adama when he woke the morning after wished he was still out cold, his head was absolutely pounding like a group of group of marines had been doing drills over it all night. He looked up and saw through blurry eyes that he had somehow made his way to the secondary engineering access corridor. He forced himself to get up and realised that his shirt was missing but thankfully he still had his watch, pants and boots. He looked at the watch and then to his horror realised that he had only two hours to get cleaned up and ready for his wedding. His body groaned and his head hurt more than ever as he set off at a quick pace to his quarters and grab a shower.

Sam found himself in the waste management room dressed in a latex get up which belonged in some dominatrix's dungeon with a similar hangover to Lee and most of the men and women at the parties last night. He quickly made his way back to the bunkroom to grab a shower and dispose of this get up before putting on his dress uniform.

Kara and Kendra thankfully had not drunk much at their party and did not have a hangover but they awoke late, sleeping in given how tired they were after their hen night and shot out of bed when they saw the time on the wall clock. Grabbing a quick shower before they tidied themselves up before rushing off to their weddings, both women dreading having to wear the dresses that Laura had found for them who insisted they would fit

With only ten minutes to go, the rest of the guests were assembled in the presentation area of the Starboard flight pod and Elosha was already standing in place waiting for the grooms to arrive. Lee and Sam dashed into the room before slowing to a gentle walk up to the altar, tugging the uniforms straight. From the front row Lee saw his father give him a knowing smile as the old man thought back to his own wedding day. Laura Roslin sat next to the old man and smiled herself. Then at just the right time Kara and Kendra all decked out in their dresses walked together up the aisle to the Colonial wedding march, the crowd went silent and despite the smiles that the two women had put on they wished something more private could have been arranged as they felt the eyes of the crowd directed at them.

Kara had lucked out in Laura's borrowed dresses; her's was a white satin dress that fell to her feet but hugged her toned body with her blond hair tied up in an elegant knot on the top of her head. Kendra however was given a black dress that clung to her own body and fell to her knees. Her hair was arranged so that it fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Both women had make up on which they hated but Kendra was a bit freaked out since the dress she was now wearing was the same one that she had been wearing in her vision on Kobol.

As they approached the altar Lee and Same were gobsmacked by the beauty of their respective partners all over again. The two women finally reached the altar just as the Wedding March ended and took their places besides their partners as Elosha started the ceremony.

"We are all gathered here in the sight of the Lords of Kobol on this day to join these men and these women in the sacred bond of matrimony. They have declared their love for one another and wish to be joined for all eternity. They have agreed to share the good times and the bad times, to truly give to each other all they are"

Elosha carried on far awhile while the brides and grooms looked into each other's eyes and the world fell away around them till they heard Elosha reach the critical part

"Do you Samuel Anders and Lee Adama take Kendra Shaw and Kara Thrace as your lawfully wedded wives to honour and to cherish till death do you part?" she asked the grooms who both responded

"I do"

"Do you Kendra Shaw and Kara Thrace take Samuel Anders and Lee Adama as you lawfully wedded husbands to love in sickness and in health till death to you part?" Elosha then asked the brides

"I do" Kendra and Kara said at the exact same moment

Elosha smiled and announced to the entire room "Then as a Priestess of the Lords of Kobol I name you husbands and wives. You may seal for bonding with a kiss" She said and Sam and Lee almost that second reached out and pulled Kendra and Kara into a deep and passionate kiss and a cheer went up in the room. Kendra looked over Sam's shoulder after they had finished their kiss and saw that damned Six again smiling a smile that was creepy.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**


	17. Chapter 17

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 17 – Something Dark this way comes…**

_Five months after the weddings…_

Kendra made her way along the corridors of _Galactica_ with slow uneven steps as the crew rushed past her in an awful hurry for some reason. Her hand was on her aching back as her near six month pregnancy had become very pronounced. The balls of her feet protested as she continued on to her destination.

Finally much to her relief she finally got there, it was a seldom used meeting room that she and Kara had claimed as a meeting place for when they kept each other company as both women had become exceptionally bored because they were banned from working by Doctor Cottle. Kendra and Kara had almost pleaded with him to at least let them carry on with on-board ship duties but the old doctor had been unmoved and repeated to them that they were off duty till further notice.

So the two women generally spent their days in this room playing triad, reading, sleeping or complaining about Cottle. Other days they spent in the Cylon Cell with Sharon keeping her company and doing much of the same. Kara had been suffering a sort of flying withdrawal from not being able to fly Vipers but she was complaining about it less and less as the baby she was carrying grew inside her. A fair few times Kendra had seen the blonde reduced to tears only to wipe them away refusing to admit that she was so happy to be carrying this baby that it actually made her outwardly emotionally.

When Kendra opened the hatch she saw that Kara was not alone, Giana O'Neill had turned up pregnant at the same time that Kara and Kendra had. The Gemonese deckhand was surprised when she had experienced morning sickness and knew immediately what it was, having already had one child. Roslin had been very wary when she had learned of the pregnancy because now there was going to be more Cylon/Human hybrids but Giana had point blank refused to abort the baby and Simon was almost giddy with glee at becoming a father. Lee and Sam had had to be ordered by their wives to leave them to go to work, refusing to leave their sides for even a moment as their condition developed. Kara and Kendra were annoyed at not being allowed to do anything themselves but touched that their men were doing their upmost to be there for them.

The other occupant of the room wasn't so lucky, the marine that Racetrack had slept with the night of their hen party had been careless with his contraception and Racetrack's had unfortunately expired but she had been too drunk to realise this. The Raptor pilot was now five months pregnant and the marine in question had vanished into the civilian fleet leaving Racetrack carrying the baby alone. She had been so scared at first that she had wanted to abort the baby but couldn't when the President had passed a law banning abortions, so it had quickly become anger screaming her head off at everyone till Tigh had dressed her down and Racetrack had dissolved into tears as her anger gave way to despair. So Kara, Kendra and Giana had invited her to join them in their room and she had calmed down significantly, she had even begun building a relationship with Sharon although the two were still on edge around each other because of Boomer.

"So finally joined us?" Kara said looking up as Kendra walked into their and shut the hatch behind her, the other woman was playing a triad game with Giana who was losing rather badly while Racetrack sat on the nearby sofa reading a book that the Commander had donated on one of his visits down to them, _The Code and Practice of Law by Lyman Poore Duff_. The book had been given to Commander Adama by his father hoping that he would follow him into the legal profession and they had all read it nearly twice each, now knowing all the legal framework work for the entire Caprican legal system. The literary culture and knowledge of all the women in the room was becoming far to developed for their own tastes but at least it gave them something to do. Sharon had devoured book after book as the Commander had finally given her access to reading material. Debates had started between the five women about everything from loopholes that could be exploited in the legal system to what was the best way to cook a Piconese tiger shark after they had read one too many cookbooks.

"Had to push my way past the crew, something's got them excited" Kendra said as she sat on the other side of the couch and picked up another book entitled _Great Pyramid Games of the last century by Sean Perkins_ and started reading. All four dismissed the strange excitement amongst the crew since as battle stations hadn't sounded it wasn't a Cylon attack.

A half an hour later the door to their opened and they all looked up to Colonel Tigh coming in with a smug grin and an excited Ellen before saying "So how are your attempts to turn this ship into a frakking maternity ward?" he said jokingly but Ellen rushed past him asking excitedly

"So how is it going? Have you picked out names?" and the four women near groaned in exasperation. Ellen Tigh was a regular visitor and annoyed them endlessly with her queries on the babies and made plenty not so discreet references to her perhaps being their godmother.

"Not yet, sir what is all the fuss about?" Giana asked

"The _Battlestar Pegasus_ has met up with the fleet, Admiral Cain is on her way to _Galactica_ right now" Tigh told the deckhand while Kendra froze at the mention of her old ship. Admiral Cain was coming here, to _Galactica_. She had felt as safe as she could here on the old Battlestar with its dysfunctional but incredibly effective crew who had formed some kind of extended family, albeit a conflicted one. The Patriarch was the Commander and he was a good man especially with the Matriarch Laura Roslin looking over his shoulder. Helen Cain threatened that delicate structure that had developed and memories of Cain shooting Colonel Belzan in the head because he refused to carry out her orders started flashing through her head and she only hoped that the Admiral had mellowed since. Tigh started talking again

"I'm heading down to the hanger deck, I'll give the admiral your regards" Tigh said and he left the room through the still open hatch with Ellen at his heels.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A half an hour later Admiral Cain had been officially welcomed on-board _Galactica_ and invited to the Commander's quarters so she could talk with the President and Commander in private. The Commander had poured them each a drink of ambrosia and the Admiral had been explaining how they had escaped the Colonies and their activities since.

Commander Adama listened intently and mentally compared the Admiral's story to the report given by Lieutenant Shaw when she had come on-board. Cain omitted several facts from her story namely the shooting of her first officer. He was happy to see more Colonial survivors but something in the back of his mind kept telling him not to drop his guard.

"I should mention that I have something of yours" Commander Adama said to Cain who looked at him puzzled

"Something of mine Commander?" she asked

"Your former aide Lieutenant Kendra Shaw" he explained and light dawned on Cain's very surprised expression "We rescued her from a Cylon POW camp six months ago they had been conducting experiments on humans, Shaw was the only survivor"

Cain looked shocked at this piece of information, remembering the younger woman as wet behind the ears and not tough by any means but Cain suspected as having strength she wasn't aware of. After she had been dragged off by the Cylons she had never expected to see the lieutenant that she had been intending to train as a razor.

"I'd like to see the lieutenant as soon as possible" Cain said "And to hear what Intel she might have picked up"

Adama was about to speak again when Laura spoke first "The lieutenant has managed to identify all seven models of Cylon and has provided valuable data on their physical bodies. She has been very helpful to us, despite her delicate condition" she said with a smile

"Delicate condition?" Cain asked wondering if the lieutenant had been injured in some way before Roslin clarified

"She's pregnant"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Admiral Helena Cain's mind was spinning as she tried to process everything that she had learned today. _Galactica_ had two Cylon prisoners and a captured Cylon transport craft that they were studying to improve their understanding of Cylon tech. She was planning to assign one of her own people to interrogate the prisoners. Lieutenant Thorne might be a good choice she thought to herself.

But her mind thought back to the young lieutenant who she had scared the living daylights out of on her first day. It seemed like a life time ago now and her thoughts suddenly went to a place that Cain had sworn not to go into again, Gina.

That bitch had played her like a guitar, used her feelings that she never let anyone else see to manipulate and play with her. If she ever did meet that bitch again she was going to kill her again and again till she was satisfied that she was finally dead. But she couldn't help but feel regret in darkest corners that they were on opposite sides in this conflict before she shook herself and pushed that impulse as deep as she could. She then felt a cough coming to her throat, an occurrence that was becoming more and more common.

She was relieved to step out onto the _Pegasus_ deck plates when the raptor finally landed, she felt much better now that she was back on her own ship. _Galactica_ was a bucket in comparison to _Pegasus_ but Cain knew better than to say so in front of the ship's crew. The only people who had the right to criticise a ship was its crew and gods help anyone else who did it. But as she was walking through the corridors of her ship, looking with pride on the highly disciplined crew of her ship but frowned when she saw civilians with their children walking through the corridors.

When after the battle at the Com relay, they'd met a fleet of civilian vessels; she had meant to have them stripped and pressgang any one of value into her crew. Stripping the ships had been easy enough despite the resistance they had encountered but getting the selectees to join had been difficult, she had been about to have Colonel Fisk have their families put up against a wall and shoot them but her replacement aide Lieutenant Dillon had told her that they'd probably come willingly if she allowed their families to join them. She had been dead against it but he had pointed out to her that if they were brought aboard unwillingly then they might sabotage the ship out of revenge, not wanting that aboard her ship she had agreed and most of the selectees had taken the chance and jumped ship, desperate to save their loved ones.

But Cain still felt that families and children especially had no place on a military ship in peace or war, and that they were a distraction from people doing their jobs.

She reached her office and went to her desk to read the reports that had stacked up in her absence, stripping down to her tanks when there was a knocking sound at the door and she sighed before shouting "Come in"

The door opened and Lieutenant Dillon stepped in carrying a series of files under his arm and he saluted before standing at ease

"Admiral I have been looking at the fleet as per your orders and have identified several ships that could be useful to us" he told her "The mining ships and tylium refinery ships for obvious reasons and the Botanical Cruiser in the civilian fleet could be converted to serve a farm for us" he said droning on for a while till Helena Cain spoke up halting him

"_Galactica_ has apparently got two Cylon prisoners and one is pregnant while the other one has a wife who is pregnant too. I was thinking of sending Lieutenant Thorne and his marines over there to interrogate them" she told him. She generally sounded ideas against Dillon, he offered sound advice most of the time and would follow her orders without question.

"Maybe you could threaten the babies with death if they don't comply sir" he suggested and Cain did have to admit that idea had merit. She would visit those Cylons and Lieutenant Shaw tomorrow

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Admiral Cain and Lieutenant Dillon left _Pegasus_ so they could return to _Galactica_ to question the pregnant Cylon and Kendra Shaw. She travelled without marines given that _Galactica_ was a ship free of Cylons thanks to Lieutenant Shaw ad Lieutenant Dillon was more than adequate bodyguard.

She was shown to the room were the Cylon and Kendra Shaw were waiting for her, being six months pregnant neither was particularly mobile. When she arrived she was annoyed to see that three other pregnant women were present but dismissed them as her eyes focused on her ex-aide sitting on the sofa in civilian dress.

"Admiral" she said trying to stand but seemed to freeze when she caught a glimpse of Lieutenant Dillon as he sealed the hatch behind them and her breathing quickened

"Lieutenant Shaw I do not appreciate being stared at by a gaping idiot so will you talk properly" Cain said and then noticed that the other women in the room including the Cylon had frozen too and then a voice from behind her spoke with a cold malice that she had never heard before as at the same time she felt the cold metal of a gun barrel being pressed into her back

"I don't think it's you their gaping at Admiral so why don't you just take a seat" Dillon said while he took her pistol out of its holster and pushed her forward causing her to stumble before she took a seat next to a blonde woman and turned to see Dillon was pointing both his own pistol and her's at the collection of women in the room. Cain trying to maintain some veneer of a professional asked him coldly

"Just what are you doing Lieutenant Dillon?" but before he could answer Kendra Shaw did

"He's a Cylon Model five Admiral" and then Cain suddenly understood and nearly screamed in anger as she realised that she'd been taken for a fool by the Cylons for a second time.

"So Cylon" Cain said "What do you want?" and the machine that appeared to be a man sneered before answering

"With you admiral nothing really, as I have discovered your quite capable of destroying humanity on your own. It's them I want" he said indicating the pregnant Sharon, Kendra and Giana who all stiffened in fear "To take them back to the nearest base ship where their offspring can be analysed"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Please review to tell me what you think_

_Sir Lyman Poore Duff was Chief Justice in Canada's Supreme Court between 1933 and 1944_


	18. Chapter 18

_I do not own Battlestar Galactica _

**Chapter 18 – Hostages **

Sharon was quivering visually with fear; she had had nightmares of this happening. A Cylon coming and dissecting her precious baby to learn whatever secret might be hidden within her body. Now this Model 5 was about to do just that. She had horrible visions of herself being held on a base star tied down to a table and fed with a tube down her mouth till she finally went into labour when her baby was taken from her and she watched as she was boxed for all eternity. She looked over to Kendra and Giana and saw that they were also shaking, similar nightmarish visions flashing through their minds.

Kara was shaking too, a mix of anger and terror had flooded her body. She wanted to smash the face of the Cylon who was pointing guns at them in. But to her shame and anger she couldn't bring herself to move as her body was frozen with fear. She hadn't been like this since her days in flight school when confronted with flying an actual viper for the first time, only then her natural ability for flying had taken over and her fear vanished the moment she was in the air. But this fear wasn't going to go away, the fact that one bullet from this Cylon could kill her baby and she was too slow to get him before he fired made her tremble in fear and she despised herself for being so weak that she couldn't do anything.

Racetrack was similarly frozen in fear and hating herself for being so vulnerable and unable to do anything. She cursed herself for having to wear civilian clothes rather than her uniform with a side arm that she could use.

Helena Cain was seething but asked in as calm a voice as she could muster "How exactly are you going to do that toaster. The landing bay is a long way from here; you'll be spotted well before you get there, especially with five pregnant women and me accompanying you. The first marine we come across will take you down"

The Cylon sneered again before telling her "Not only do I have you admiral as a key hostage but I also have Commander Adama's daughter-in-law and mother of his future grandchildren with me. Adama won't dare make a move while I have a gun pressed to your heads" and Cain's eyes turned to the blonde she was sitting next to. "So shall we make tracks?" he said but they all knew this was an order not a suggestion and so all the women in the room got to their feet and started making their way down the corridors towards the landing bay. All of the hostages were praying to whatever deity that they worshipped that something, anything would happen to save them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Unaware of what was happening away from his position; Commander Adama was discussing with his XO Saul Tigh just what he had learned from Colonel Fisk his opposite.

"She did what?" Adama asked disbelievingly

"Had those fifteen civilian ships stripped of every usable piece of equipment and pressganged any useful personnel into her crew, the only decent thing about it is that she allowed the 'selectees' as Fisk dared call them to join them. Without FTLs they had no chance of escape or they'd suffocate from having the air scrubbers removed" Tigh finished reporting and Adama rubbed his temple to try and ease the growing headache that he had. Helena Cain was going to be a much bigger problem that he had imaged. He resolved right there that if Cain tried anything like that with their fleet, he would stop her, whatever it took.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The trip to the hanger deck was a slow one; Helena Cain was forced to walk slower than her normal brisk march as the five pregnant women in their group waddled down the corridor slowly. They might have been able go faster but they were making sure to move as slowly as possible in the hope that they might be able to buy more time. The timing of their walk however was bad as most of the crew were at the duty stations as the corridors were clear as any off duty crewmembers were either in the mess grabbing a bite to eat or in their racks getting some shuteye.

"Come on move" Dillon the Cylon told them sharply and they kept on moving to the landing bay.

They were just passing the pilots ready room when finally they heard the voices of somebody talking and coming around the corner was the Deck Chief Galen Tyrol with a few members of his deck gang. Giana wasted no time

"CHIEF" she screamed in the loudest voice she could muster and the indicated man turned to find the source and then a shocked look appeared on his face before he shouted out

"Cylon call security" he shouted quickly and he pulled out his side arm as his crew did the same. He didn't usually wear it but thankfully today was the day he and a few of his crew had had to re-qualify on firearms. After the last time they had been boarded by the Cylons the Commander had made it compulsory for all crewmembers to have to qualify with weapons at least once a year in case they needed to defend the ship.

Dillon cursed and told his hostages "Get in there" indicating the pilots ready room and the women wasted no time getting inside. The chief ran after them with Cally at his side but Dillon shut the hatch and Galen knew better than to rush through and he told two of his deck hands

"Go around the other side don't let him escape" and the two men ran off to do what they had been told. The chief then grabbed the wall phone and told Lieutenant Gaeta "Sir we have a Cylon infiltrator on-board with six hostages holed up in the pilots ready room"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"You stupid pathetic bitch" Dillon snarled at Giana and he slapped her across the face nearly causing her to fall if Kara and Sharon hadn't caught her, but scared though she was she stared back at him with defiance in her eyes despite the swelling that was forming around her eye. Dillon went to the other door and sealed the hatch as he saw the two deckhands that Tyrol had sent running towards it. He groaned in frustration and banged his fist on the wall before telling them

"Sit and space yourself apart" he warned and they all took seats apart from each other where the pilots normally sat. Dillon then noticed the security cameras in the corners of the room and he shot them out. Cain sat on the second row and relaxed herself as much as possible. 'When an opportunity came' she thought 'I'll be ready'

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Commander Adama was summoned from his meeting with Tigh in his quarters by Lieutenant Gaeta and the moment he arrived on the CIC he saw the Lieutenant standing around the centre console with schematics of the ship's blueprints and the section where the ready room was located. Around the table also stood Captain Lee Adama, Lieutenant Karl Agathon and Chief Galen Tyrol now up here after marines had taken over securing the corridors around the ready room.

"The Cylon has both hatches sealed and the cameras in the room have been taken out so we have no eyes and ears inside the room. We can confirm at least six hostages; Admiral Cain, Starbuck, Lieutenant Shaw and Edmondson, Petty Officer O'Neill and the Cylon Sharon" Gaeta told the Commander after he demanded to know what was happening

"Are we sure that the other Cylon isn't helping him?" Tigh asked referring to Sharon and Helo seeing red immediately jumped to his girlfriend's defence

"She would never risk our baby with a stunt like this" he said rounding on Tigh who was about to answer back when the Commander interrupted him

"Let's not get into this now, our first priority is to get those hostages out of there alive" he said firmly making everyone aware that what the priority now. The Commander looked over at his son and the look of fear on his normally composed son's face made the Commander aware of just how worried his son was about his wife and to be fair the Commander was worried about Kara too. But right now he needed to keep a clear and level head if he was to get them out alive.

"Is there any way we could get into the room without going through the hatches?" Commander Adama asked Gaeta who shook his head as he answered

"No way at all and the vents above the room are so small that there is no one who could fit through, the only good thing is we know he hasn't shot anyone yet since we would have heard the shot"

"We have to find a way to get someone in there" Lee insisted and the Commander thought for a moment before picking up the phone on the centre display and telling Gaeta "Put me through to the Ready Room" and the Lieutenant nodded connecting the Commander

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

In the ready room, Dillon was pacing like a caged lion and nearly jumped when the phone rang although he had been expecting it. He kept his eyes on his hostages while picking up the phone and said simply

"Yes"

"This is Commander Adama, release those hostages now and we can talk. You have nowhere to go" Adama said on one end of the line. He hated having to negotiate but until they had another plan it was all he could do

"Hello Commander, let me make this very plain so even someone of your limited intelligence can understand. I will be releasing no one; you will provide me a raptor to take myself and three of my hostages away from your fleet. Those are my conditions abide by them" Dillon told him and put the phone down

Cain looked straight at Dillon and said "Adama will never let you off this ship Dillon you might as well just give up" but the Cylon only turned around and smugly told her

"With you as my hostage, he'll have no choice. But I already killed you admiral weeks ago" and Cain frowned

"What do you mean?" she asked

"I was the only officer to bring you coffee remember?" he told her and her mind flashed back to the moment when she had been working and the Cylon had made a cup of coffee for her but her mind returned to the present when he continued "I put a little Dactyl root in each cup, just enough for you not to notice. Building up the amount in your body slowly, you know those headaches you've been getting" he said on a roll now "That's the first side effect, by now you have so much in your body that even if you got the antitoxin at best you've got two weeks bedbound till you die" he said taking great pleasure in informing her how he had murdered her without her even knowing

Cain just stared at him, to in shock to even move. She had written those headaches as stress and after a slight pain relief pill they had gone away, now that she knew what those damn things had been for the symptom warning her of the poison inside. She suddenly had a horrible vision of her future, lying in a bed in _Pegasus's_ sickbay her body connected up to life support machines as she lay trapped in her own body as it wasted away.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

On the CIC, Commander Adama put the phone down frustrated; clearly negotiations weren't going to get them anywhere he could not allow that Cylon to leave this ship but as he looked at the room was impossible to get into without going through the two hatchways and both of the could be covered by the Cylon and by the time they were open all the hostages could be dead anyway.

Colonel Tigh said annoyed to the officers around him "We need to find an excuse for someone to get in there so they can get close enough to disarm him or at least kill him"

"Sir with all due respect no one person could outmuscle a Cylon or even be trusted enough to get close" Lee pointed out but then Helo had a brainwave

"There is one man on this ship who could" and they all looked

"Who" Lee asked and Helo said "Simon O'Neill"

The reaction from Saul Tigh was immediate he spluttered and said "No frakking way our we trusting a frakking Cylon to deal with another Cylon, he'd probably turn on us and join the bastard"

Lee Adama was unsure of what to say but his father asked Helo "Can we trust him?"

Helo said simply "It's his wife and child in there sir"

Commander Adama stared at the schematic of the room again before saying to Helo "Take me to his cell"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lieutenant Agathon did as he was instructed by his superior officer and they arrived at the second Cylon cell where Simon was lying on the bunk. The black man sat up and asked

"Is there something wrong?" Simon asked his daily worry was that something was going to happen to Giana and nightmares featured much to that effect.

"A model five Cylon has taken your wife and five others hostage in the pilot ready room" Commander Adama told him and Simon immediately jumped to his feet and started asking

"Is Giana alright? Did that bastard hurt her?" Commander Adama said

"As far as we know she is but we need to get someone inside to take him out. He might let you get close enough" Commander Adama said and asked "Will you be willing?"

"Without hesitation sir" Simon said

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

In the Ready room the pregnant women said quietly without saying a word while Cain sat seething and hoping for the Cylon to drop his guard. Dillon meanwhile was standing at the back of the room while he waited for Adama to make contact. So he was rewarded when the phone sounded again and he picked it up

"Commander Adama, have you decided to co-operate?" Dillon asked

"The raptor is being prepared now, but first I want to send in one medic to check that the hostages are alive and well" the Commander told him and Dillon's smile vanished

"That was not what I said Commander" Dillon told him

"No medical check, no raptor. Now I want your assurance that the medic will be unharmed and be allowed to leave once he's done" The Commander said firmly. Dillon thought for a moment and said

"Fine but he comes in alone with only one med kit and no weapon"

"Agreed" the Commander said and hung up the phone on his end before turning to Simon who was now under the careful watch of three marines wearing a medical uniform with a med kit in his hand and the Commander turned to the man

"Get close enough to him; if what is said of Admiral Cain is true then she'll be ready to help you. Disarm him any way that you can" the Commander ordered and Simon nodded before he made his way to the ready room. Adama turned to see Saul Tigh watching him

"If this goes wrong Bill then it's on your head" Tigh warned him

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Dillon heard a knocking on the hatch door and stood out of the way in case a marine came rushing in only to see to his complete surprise a Model four dressed as a Colonial fleet medic came in and he said out loud

"My name is Simon Kazan I'm the medic" Simon said. Giana and the others kept their faces from showing any surprise at seeing him, for Giana this was even harder than others because it was her husband

"Just do your job quickly" Dillon said and while Simon made his way to check Giana, Dillon went over to him and said quietly in his ear

"I need you to contact the nearest base ship; an all-out assault will be perfect to affect my escape with the pregnant ones"

But Simon then without wasting any time dropped his med kit and slugged Dillon straight in the face and went for the pistols in Dillon's hands. As Dillon began to struggle with Simon to retain his grip on the weapons, Cain jumped to her feet and grabbed the med kit just as Dillon managed to force Simon's grip loose and Cain smashed Dillon in the head again and again with the case of the med kit till Dillon's head was nothing but a bloody pulp, her fury and hatred burning with every strike. She didn't even notice when Dillon had died she just kept on going till there was almost nothing solid left of Dillon's face. The rest of the people in the room just watched in horror as the Admiral kept on going till Kendra reached for the Admiral and held her arms to stop her continuing her now pointless assault

"It's over Admiral he's dead" and Cain breathing rapidly allowed Kendra to take the med kit from her and Kara went to open the hatch

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After the five pregnant women had been checked by Doctor Cottle and declared perfectly fine physically if a bit shaken emotionally, Admiral Cain asked him to give her a poison test, to see if Dillon had been telling the truth and she was indeed poisoned. She sat down on one of the bed while waiting for the results. Commander Adama at her request had stayed, if she was indeed dying then it would be up to him to lead both _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_, she needed him.

The Doctor came back with sympathy on his face telling her without pause "I'm afraid that you have been poisoned admiral. You have two weeks at most before the poison spreads to your brain and central nervous system. I can arrange care for that time if you so choose"

"No" Cain said "I'd rather just spend the little time I have left working" and while her strong façade held inside she was quaking with fear. The greatest fear some would say, the fear of death.

"As you wish" Cottle said and he left while Cain and Adama walked to Galactica's war room

"Admiral if you want some time" Adama started to say but Cain cut him off

"Commander do not make me regret you're staying" and Adama took the hint and stopped talking at least until they got to the war room where Captain Lee Adama, Colonel Fisk and Colonel Tigh were waiting with the recon shots that _Pegasus_ had taken of the mysterious Cylon ship

"Admiral, Commander" Fisk said and they all stood to attention till the Admiral said

"At ease, Jack what have you got?" she asked her own XO who told her

"The two Cylon prisoners identified this as the Resurrection ship; the Cylons use it to extend the range of the network when it goes out beyond normal range. Without it they can't download into new bodies" and the light came on in Cain's eyes

"We can permanently end them once the ship is gone" and Lee Adama added

"It might also make them more reluctant to chase us if they are immortal" and Tigh nodded before pointing out a problem

"How do we make sure that they don't jump out when we attack, the ship will run away at the first sign of us" and Cain then suggested an idea that had sprang into her mind

"We could detonate a nuke right above the Resurrection ship; that way they won't have time to run. The explosion will also severely damage those base ships escorting it allowing _Pegasus_ and _Galactica_ to destroy them easily"

"The pilot won't have enough time to jump in, set the nuke, drop it and then jump out before either the raptor is destroyed or the ship jumps away" Lee Adama pointed out and Cain then said

"The pilot sets the nuke before the jump, then detonates it the moment they appear above the ship"

They all looked shocked at her idea; the pilot who took a mission like this was turning Kamikaze

"I won't order any of my pilots to kill themselves like this admiral" Commander Adama told his superior who said shocking everyone

"I'll do it"

"But sir" Fisk objected but Cain silenced him by saying

"I'm dying Jack that bastard Cylon poisoned me, I've got maybe two weeks and if I'm going to go then I'll do it on my own terms and not wasting away in some hospital bed" she said ending the discussion about this topic and continued "Once I detonate the nuke, _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ jump in and finish off those base ships, we may never have those opportunity again so I don't intend to waste it, we go in four hours" she ordered and turned to Colonel Fisk "I'll address the _Pegasus_ crew in one hour make sure that they are ready"

Reluctantly Fisk nodded and saluted his admiral

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

An hour later Cain was back on _Pegasus_ standing on her CIC and with the receiver in her hand she made her announcement on board the ship they all waited for her announcement

"This is the admiral, as you may be aware we are about to launch an attack against a nearby Cylon target in conjunction with Galactica. I must now reveal to you that I intent to personally take a raptor to detonate a nuke above the target so that they are softened p for bothy battlestars to overwhelm them but I will not be returning for this mission" she said and the crew all over the ship looked shocked and horrified at what she was saying "I must now reveal to you that I have been poisoned by a Cylon agent and have less than two weeks to live, if I am going to die then I will use my last breath to make sure that this crew has the best chance to survive. May the gods be with you all" Cain finished and placed the receiver back in its place and looked up to see that the entire crew of the CIC was saluting her.

Later she put on a pilot's jumpsuit and picked up her helmet and carried it under her arm all the way to the hanger deck but a sight that nearly brought tears to her eyes appeared. Along every corridor on the way to the hanger deck, both civilian and military lined the way and as she walked past they all saluted her. She kept her face impassive but her heart was warmed to see her crew cared this much.

When she got to the hanger deck she saw Commander Adama and his staff where there with hers and saluted the moment that they saw her. She walked over to Colonel Fisk and told him

"This is your ship now, take care of her Jack" and Fisk said

"Yes sir" and she turned to Commander Adama and handed him a small box

"Open this after the Resurrection ship is destroyed, good luck Commander"

"You too Admiral and May the gods be with you" Commander Adama said saluting her again and without wasting any more time, she climbed into her raptor and saw the nuke already in place. She closed the hatch and initiated the launch procedure as she put her helmet on

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As the big battlestars geared themselves up and stood ready for their jump with a timed delay of forty five seconds after Cain did. Cain set the co-ordinates and set the nuke ready; she pressed the jump key with the nuke's manual detonator in her hand. She closed her eyes and calmed her nerves as best as she could but one face kept coming to the front of her mind. Gina the woman that she had fallen in love with only for her to be betrayed and used, but even now in the depths of her heart Cain could not deny that she loved her.

She opened her eyes when she felt the sensation of the FTL jump and saw just beneath her raptor the Resurrection ship right where it should have been and without even thinking she pulled the trigger and knew no more.

The nuke detonated vaporising the raptor and destroying the Resurrection ship below utterly, the base ships caught the edges of the explosion shaking violently and leaving the ships blinded. But before they could fully recover, the Battlestars _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ jumped in and immediately began firing. Their missiles and shells began ripping into the blinded and wounded base ships. The Cylons on board realised to their horror that the nuke had knocked out their FTL and without the Resurrection ship they could not download into new bodies.

Both battlestars were relentless and both kept firing until both base ships exploded in a colossal fire ball. On the _Galactica_ CIC Commander Adama opened the box Cain had given him and saw inside were the rank pins of a rear admiral. The message was clear, take care of my ship

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**


End file.
